Song of Songs · Brenton's English Septuagint
Song of Songs 4 Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
1 Behold, thou art fair, my companion; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are doves, beside thy veil: thy hair is as flocks of goats, that have appeared from Galaad.
1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead.
2 Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn [sheep], that have gone up from the washing; all of them bearing twins, and there is not a barren one among them.
2 Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them.
3 Thy lips are as a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: like the rind of a pomegranate is thy cheek without thy veil.
3 Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
4 Thy neck is as the tower of David, that was built for an armoury: a thousand shields hang upon it, [and] all darts of mighty men.
4 Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory, on which a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.
5 Thy two breasts are as two twin fawns, that feed among the lilies.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day dawn, and the shadows depart, I will betake me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
6 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.
7 Thou art all fair, my companion, and there is no spot in thee.
7 You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.
8 Come from Libanus, [my] bride, come from Libanus: thou shalt come and pass from the top of Faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, 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 My sister, [my] spouse, thou hast ravished my heart; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.
10 How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! how much more beautiful are thy breasts than wine, and the smell of thy garments than all spices!
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!
11 Thy lips drop honeycomb, my spouse: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is as the smell of Libanus.
11 Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
12 My sister, [my] spouse is a garden enclosed; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.
12 My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
13 Thy shoots are a garden of pomegranates, with the fruit of choice berries; camphor, with spikenard:
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,
14 spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all woods of Libanus, myrrh, aloes, with all chief spices:
14 spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
15 a fountain of a garden, and a well of water springing and gurgling from Libanus.
15 a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.
16 Awake, O north wind; and come, O south; and blow through my garden, and let my spices flow out.
16 Awake, north wind, and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits.
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Song of Songs 6:5; Song of Songs 1:15; Song of Songs 6:7; Song of Songs 2:14; Song of Songs 7:5
- 2 Song of Songs 6:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Colossians 1:4–6; 2 Peter 1:5–8; Deuteronomy 7:13–14
- 3 Song of Songs 6:7; Song of Songs 5:16; Joshua 2:18; Psalm 119:13; Proverbs 10:20–21
- 4 Song of Songs 7:4; Ephesians 4:15–16; Ezekiel 27:10–11; 1 Peter 1:5; Nehemiah 3:19
- 5 Song of Songs 7:3; Song of Songs 6:3; Song of Songs 2:16; 1 Peter 2:2; Song of Songs 8:10
- 6 Song of Songs 2:17; Song of Songs 4:14; Luke 1:78; Malachi 4:2; Isaiah 2:2
- 7 Song of Songs 1:15; Song of Songs 4:1; Ephesians 5:25–27; Jude 24; Colossians 1:22
- 8 Deuteronomy 3:9; Song of Songs 2:13; Psalm 45:10; 1 Chronicles 5:23; Isaiah 62:5
- 9 Song of Songs 5:1–2; Song of Songs 4:12; Proverbs 5:19–20; Hosea 2:19–20; 2 Corinthians 11:2
- 10 Song of Songs 1:2–4; Galatians 5:22; Song of Songs 7:6; Song of Songs 5:5; Song of Songs 1:12
- 11 Song of Songs 5:1; Hosea 14:6–7; Song of Songs 5:13; Song of Songs 7:9; Genesis 27:27
- 12 Proverbs 5:15–18; Revelation 21:27; 1 Corinthians 6:13; Isaiah 61:10–11; Revelation 7:3
- 13 Song of Songs 1:14; Ecclesiastes 2:5; Song of Songs 6:11; Song of Songs 1:12; Song of Songs 8:2
- 14 Exodus 30:23; Song of Songs 4:6; Song of Songs 3:6; Song of Songs 6:2; Proverbs 7:17
- 15 John 4:10; John 7:38; John 4:14; Jeremiah 2:13; Revelation 22:1
- 16 Song of Songs 6:2; Song of Songs 5:1; Ezekiel 37:9; Song of Songs 4:13–14; 1 Peter 2:5
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… is said of the Church, when it is being praised under the figure of a beautiful woman, "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn which came up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and none is barren among them?" Does the hearer learn anything more than when he listens to the same thought expressed …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For though it has now been most highly adorned with royal gifts, yet formerly it was a garden, and the signs and the remnants of this remain. A garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, by the Jews who said, We remember that that deceiver said while He was yet alive, After three days, I will rise: command, therefore, that the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Of these teeth too of the Church it is said, "Thy teeth are as a flock of shorn sheep, coming up from the bath, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them." These are they who prescribe rightly, and as they prescribe, live; who do what is written, "Let your works shine before men, that …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
But who is the fountain that is sealed, or who is interpreted as being a well-spring of living water?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)