아가 4

He praises her beauty

¹How beautiful you are, my darling! How beautiful you are! \q Your eyes are doves \q seen through your veil. \q Your hair is like a flock of goats \q pouring down the slopes of Mount Gilead. ²Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes \q that have come up from the washing; \q each one has its twin, \q and not one of them is missing. ³Your lips are like a scarlet thread, \q and your mouth is lovely; \q your cheeks behind your veil \q are like halves of a pomegranate. ⁴Your neck is like the tower of David, \q built in rows of stone; \q a thousand shields hang on it, \q all of them warriors’ shields.^{a 5}Your breasts are like two fawns, the twins of a gazelle, \q that feed among the lilies. ⁶Until the day breathes \q and the shadows flee, \q I will go to the mountain of myrrh \q and the hill of frankincense. ⁷You are beautiful in every way, my darling; \q there is no flaw in you.

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride

⁸With me from Lebanon, my bride, \q come with me from Lebanon! \q Come down from the top of Amana, from the peaks of Senir and Hermon, \q from the dens of lions, \q from the mountains of the leopards.^{b 9}You have taken my heart, my sister, my bride; \q you have taken it with a single glance of your eyes, \q with a single jewel of your necklace. ¹⁰How lovely your love is, my sister, my bride! \q Your love is so much better than wine, \q and the scent of your perfumes than any spice! ¹¹Your lips drip with honey, my bride; \q honey and milk are under your tongue, \q and the scent of your clothes is like the scent of Lebanon.

A garden locked, a fountain sealed

¹²My sister, my bride, is a garden locked up, \q a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.^{c 13}Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates \q with the choicest fruits, \q henna and nard, ¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, \q with every tree of frankincense, \q myrrh and aloes, \q and all the finest spices. ¹⁵You are a fountain for gardens, \q a well of living water, \q streams that flow down from Lebanon. ¹⁶Wake up, north wind; come, south wind! \q Blow on my garden and let its fragrance drift out. \q Let my beloved come into his garden \q and taste its choice fruits.^d