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Wisdom & Poetry · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Song of Solomon 4

Poetry celebrating desire, beauty, mutual love, longing, and covenant affection.

Old Testament

Song of Solomon 4

1Behold, 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.

2Your 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.

3Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

4Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory, on which a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.

5Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.

6Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

7You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.

8Come 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.

9You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

10How 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!

11Your 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.

12My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

13Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,

14spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

15a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.

16Awake, 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.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Poetry celebrating desire, beauty, mutual love, longing, and covenant affection. Read Song of Solomon 4 within the complete Song of Solomon overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Song of Solomon 4

Song of Solomon 4 contains 16 verses and about 348 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “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…” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 16 closes: “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.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include like, bride, beautiful, love, lebanon, sister. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Song of Solomon 4

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Song of Solomon 4:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer