New: Plus articles on faith, family and the Bible. Read them →

About this chapterThe bridegroom praises his bride from head to toe, using the rich imagery of the ancient world: eyes like doves, hair like a flock of goats on a hillside, teeth like shorn sheep, and a neck like a tower. Such comparisons are meant to convey wonder rather than literal description. He calls her his bride and says she is entirely beautiful, without flaw. He speaks of her love as better than wine and describes her as a locked garden and a sealed spring, a picture of faithful, exclusive love. She invites him to come into his garden and enjoy its fruits.

The bridegroom praises his bride from head to toe, using the rich imagery of the ancient world: eyes like doves, hair like a flock of goats on a hillside, teeth like shorn sheep, and a neck like a tower. Such comparisons are meant to convey wonder rather than literal description. He calls her his bride and says she is entirely beautiful, without flaw. He speaks of her love as better than wine and describes her as a locked garden and a sealed spring, a picture of faithful, exclusive love. She invites him to come into his garden and enjoy its fruits.

Themes

  • Admiration of the bride
  • Faithful, exclusive love
  • The garden invitation

Key verses

Audio Bible · Song of Solomon 4

Listen while you go about your day.

Song of Solomon 4

Berean Standard Bible16 verses · 2 min read

1How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. 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 the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost. 3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate. 4Your neck is like the tower of David, built with rows of stones; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. 5Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies. 6Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. 7You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw. 8Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summits 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 stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck. 10How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices. 11Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon. 12My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed. 13Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard, 14with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices. 15You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon. 16Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.
Verses in Song of Solomon 4

Chapters of Song of Solomon

All books