Song of Solomon 4
1 My darling, you are beautiful, you are very beautiful! Underneath your veil, your eyes are [as gentle as] [MET] doves. Your [long black] hair [moves from side to side] like [SIM] a flock of [black] goats moving down the slopes of Gilead Mountain.
[[Lov.]] Behold, thou art fair, my love! behold, thou art fair! Thine eyes are doves behind thy veil; Thy locks are like a flock of goats Which lie down on mount Gilead;
2 Your teeth are [very white] like [SIM] a flock of sheep [whose wool] has [just] been (shorn/cut off) and that have come up from being washed [in a stream]. You have all of your teeth; none of them is missing.
Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, Which come up from the washing-place, Of which every one beareth twins, And none is barren among them;
3 Your lips are like [SIM] a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Beneath your veil, your [round, rosy/red] cheeks are like [SIM] the halves of a pomegranate.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth comely; Thy cheeks are like a divided pomegranate behind thy veil;
4 Your [long] neck is [beautiful] like [SIM] the tower of [King] David that was built using layers/rows of stone. [The ornaments on your necklaces are like] 1,000 [HYP] shields that are hanging [on the walls of a tower]; each one belongs to a warrior.
Thy neck is like the tower of David, Built for an armory, In which there hang a thousand bucklers, All shields of mighty men;
5 Your breasts are [as beautiful] [SIM] as two (fawns/young gazelles) that eat [grass] among lilies.
Thy two breasts are like two young twin gazelles, That feed among the lilies.
6 Until dawn [tomorrow morning] and the nighttime shadows/darkness disappear, I will [lie close to your breasts] that are [like] [MET] hills that are covered with incense [DOU].
When the day breathes, and the shadows flee away, I will betake me to the mountain of myrrh And the hill of frankincense.
7 My darling, you are completely beautiful; your body is perfectly [formed]!
Thou art all fair, my love; There is no spot in thee!
8 My bride, [it is as though you are in] [MET] Lebanon [far away, where I cannot reach you]; come back to me. [It is as though you are inaccessible] [MET] on the top of Hermon Mountain or the nearby peaks. Come from where the lions have their dens and where the leopards live on the mountains.
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon! Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the dens of the lions, From the mountains of the leopards.
9 My bride [DOU], you who are dearer to me than my sister, you have captured my affection [IDM] by only once quickly looking at me, and by one [strand of] jewels in your necklace.
Thou hast taken captive my heart, my sister, my spouse; Thou hast taken captive my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.
10 My bride, your love for me is delightful! It more delightful than wine! And the fragrance of your perfume is more pleasing than any spice!
How sweet is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much more precious thy caresses than wine, And the fragrance of thy perfumes than all spices!
11 Being kissed by you is [as enjoyable as eating] [MTY] honey; your kisses are as sweet as milk [mixed with] honey. The aroma of your clothes is like [SIM] the aroma of [cedar trees in] Lebanon.
Thy lips, O my spouse! drop the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under thy tongue, And the fragrance of thy garments is as the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My bride, [you who are dearer to me than] [MET] my sister, you are [like] [MET] a garden that is locked [in order that other men cannot enter it]; [you are like] [MET] a spring or a fountain that is covered [in order that others may not drink from it].
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed;
13 You are [like] [MET] an orchard of pomegranate trees full of delicious fruit, and plenty of [plants that produce] henna and nard [spices],
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with choicest fruits, Henna and spikenard,
14 and saffron and calamus and cinnamon and many other kinds of incense, and myrrh and aloes and many [other] fine spices.
Spikenard and saffron, Sweet cane and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices;
15 [You are like] [MET] a fountain in a garden, [like] [MET] a spring of clear water that flows [down] from [the mountains of] Lebanon.
A fountain of the gardens, A well of living water, A stream that floweth from Lebanon!
16 [I want] the north wind and the south wind to come, and blow on my garden, [in order that] the fragrance [of the spices will] spread through the air. [Similarly], I want the one who loves me to come and enjoy [cuddling up to me] [like] [MET, EUP] someone comes into a garden and enjoys eating the fruit [that grows there].
[[M.]] Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out! May my beloved come to his garden, And eat his pleasant fruits.
