1 Lo, thou [art] fair, my friend, lo, thou [art] fair, Thine eyes [are] doves behind thy veil, Thy hair as a row of the goats That have shone from mount Gilead, 2 Thy teeth as a row of the shorn ones That have come up from the washing, For all of them are forming twins, And a bereaved one is not among them. 3 As a thread of scarlet [are] thy lips, And thy speech [is] comely, As the work of the pomegranate [is] thy temple behind thy veil, 4 As the tower of David [is] thy neck, built for an armoury, The chief of the shields are hung on it, All shields of the mighty. 5 Thy two breasts [are] as two fawns, Twins of a roe, that are feeding among lilies. 6 Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows have fled away, I will get me unto the mountain of myrrh, And unto the hill of frankincense. 7 Thou [art] all fair, my friend, And a blemish there is not in thee. Come from Lebanon, O spouse, 8 Come from Lebanon, come thou in. Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Shenir and Hermon, From the habitations of lions, From the mountains of leopards. 9 Thou hast emboldened me, my sister-spouse, Emboldened me with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck. 10 How wonderful have been thy loves, my sister-spouse, How much better have been thy loves than wine, And the fragrance of thy perfumes than all spices. 11 Thy lips drop honey, O spouse, Honey and milk [are] under thy tongue, And the fragrance of thy garments [Is] as the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden shut up [is] my sister-spouse, A spring shut up — a fountain sealed. 13 Thy shoots a paradise of pomegranates, With precious fruits, 14 Cypresses with nard — nard and saffron, Cane and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices. 15 A fount of gardens, a well of living waters, And flowings from Lebanon! 16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south, Cause my garden to breathe forth, its spices let flow, Let my beloved come to his garden, And eat its pleasant fruits!
Song of Songs · Young's Literal Translation
Song of Songs 4 Young's Literal Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)