Song of Songs · Geneva Bible (1599)
Song of Songs 4 Geneva Bible (1599)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Original 16th-century spelling.
1 Behold, thou art faire, my loue: behold, thou art faire: thine eyes are like the doues: among thy lockes thine heare is like the flocke of goates, which looke downe from the mountaine of Gilead.
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 like a flocke of sheepe in good order, which go vp from the washing: which euery one bring out twinnes, and none is barren 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 lippes are like a threede of scarlet, and thy talke is comely: thy temples are within thy lockes as a piece of a pomegranate.
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 necke is as the tower of Dauid builte for defence: a thousand shieldes hang therein, and all the targates of the strong 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 breastes are as two young roes that are twinnes, feeding among the lilies.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
6 Vntill the day breake, and the shadowes flie away, I wil go into the mountaine of myrrhe and to the mountaine of incense.
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 faire, my loue, and there is no spot in thee.
7 You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, euen with me from Lebanon, and looke from the toppe of Amanah, from the toppe of Shenir and Hermon, from the dennes of the lyons, and from the mountaines 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 wounded mine heart: thou hast wounded mine heart with one of thine eyes, and with a chaine of thy necke.
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 My sister, my spouse, how faire is thy loue? howe much better is thy loue then wine? and the sauour of thine oyntments then 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 lippes, my spouse, droppe as honie combes: honie and milke are vnder thy tongue, and the sauoure of thy garments is as the sauoure of Lebanon.
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 as a garden inclosed, as a spring shut vp, and a fountaine sealed vp.
12 My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
13 Thy plantes are as an orchard of pomegranates with sweete fruites, as camphire, spikenarde,
13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,
14 Euen spikenarde, and saffran, calamus, and cynamon with all the trees of incense, myrrhe and aloes, with all the chiefe spices.
14 spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
15 O fountaine of the gardens, O well of liuing waters, and the springs of Lebanon.
15 a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.
16 Arise, O North, and come O South, and blowe on my garden that the spices thereof may flow out: let my welbeloued come to his garden, and eate his pleasant fruite.
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)