The Bridegroom Praises the Bride

The Beloved

4 Behold, you are fair, my love!Behold, you are fair!You have dove’s eyes behind your veil.Your hair is like a flock of goats,Going down from Mount Gilead.² Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheepWhich have come up from the washing,Every one of which bears twins,And none is barren among them.³ Your lips are like a strand of scarlet,And your mouth is lovely.Your temples behind your veilAre like a piece of pomegranate.⁴ Your neck is like the tower of David,Built for an armory,On which hang a thousand bucklers,All shields of mighty men.⁵ Your two breasts are like two fawns,Twins of a gazelle,Which feed among the lilies.

⁶ Until the day breaksAnd the shadows flee away,I will go my way to the mountain of myrrhAnd to the hill of frankincense.

⁷ You are all fair, my love,And there is no spot in you.⁸ 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 lions’ dens,From the mountains of the leopards.

⁹ You have ravished my heart,My sister, my spouse;You have ravished my heartWith one look of your eyes,With one link of your necklace.¹⁰ How fair is your love,My sister, my spouse!How much better than wine is your love,And the scent of your perfumesThan all spices!¹¹ Your lips, O my spouse,Drip as the honeycomb;Honey and milk are under your tongue;And the fragrance of your garmentsIs like the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹² A garden enclosedIs my sister, my spouse,A spring shut up,A fountain sealed.¹³ Your plants are an orchard of pomegranatesWith pleasant fruits,Fragrant henna with spikenard,¹⁴ Spikenard and saffron,Calamus and cinnamon,With all trees of frankincense,Myrrh and aloes,With all the chief spices—¹⁵ A fountain of gardens,A well of living waters,And streams from Lebanon.

The Shulamite

¹⁶ Awake, O north wind,And come, O south!Blow upon my garden,That its spices may flow out.Let my beloved come to his gardenAnd eat its pleasant fruits.