Chapter 4

4:1M
How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Behind your veil,
your eyes are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.
2Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep
coming up from washing,
each one having a twin,
and not one missing.
3Your lips are like a scarlet cord,
and your mouth is lovely.
Behind your veil,
your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.
4Your neck is like the tower of David,
constructed in layers.
A thousand bucklers are hung on it-
all of them shields of warriors.
5Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
6Before the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
7You are absolutely beautiful, my darling,
with no imperfection in you.
8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride-
with me from Lebanon!
Descend from the peak of Amana,
from the summit of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of the lions,
from the mountains of the leopards.
9You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride.
You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride.
Your love is much better than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.
11Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden-
a locked garden and a sealed spring.
13Your branches are a paradise of pomegranates
with choicest fruits,
henna with nard-
14nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all the best spices.
15You are a garden spring,
a well of flowing water
streaming from Lebanon.
16W
Awaken, north wind-
come, south wind.
Blow on my garden,
and spread the fragrance of its spices.
Let my love come to his garden
and eat its choicest fruits.

Chapter 5

5:1M
I have come to my garden-my sister, my bride.
I gather my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.
N
Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with love!
2W
I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My love is knocking!
M
Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my perfect one.
For my head is drenched with dew,
my hair with droplets of the night.
3W
I have taken off my clothing.
How can I put it back on?
I have washed my feet.
How can I get them dirty?
4My love thrust his hand through the opening,
and my feelings were stirred for him.
5I rose to open for my love.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
6I opened to my love,
but my love had turned and gone away.
I was crushed that he had left.
I sought him, but did not find him.
I called him, but he did not answer.
7The guards who go about the city found me.
They beat and wounded me;
they took my cloak from me-
the guardians of the walls.
8Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:
if you find my love,
tell him that I am lovesick.
9Y
What makes the one you love better than another,
most beautiful of women?
What makes him better than another,
that you would give us this charge?
10W
My love is fit and strong,
notable among ten thousand.
11His head is purest gold.
His hair is wavy
and black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
washed in milk
and set like jewels.
13His cheeks are like beds of spice,
towers of perfume.
His lips are lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.
14His arms are rods of gold
set with topaz.
His body is an ivory panel
covered with sapphires.
15His legs are alabaster pillars
set on pedestals of pure gold.
His presence is like Lebanon,
as majestic as the cedars.
16His mouth is sweetness.
He is absolutely desirable.
This is my love, and this is my friend,
young women of Jerusalem.