Song of Solomon 4
About Song of SolomonWritten by AI
The Song of Solomon, also called the Song of Songs, is a collection of love poetry. A woman and a man, often called the bride and the bridegroom, delight in each other, long for each other, and speak their love openly, with friends and the daughters of Jerusalem joining in. Its title links it to Solomon, around 950 BC. Whether he wrote it, or it was written about him or dedicated to him, is debated.
There is no clear plot. The poems move between longing and finding, separation and reunion, in rich images of gardens, vineyards, spices and springtime. Speakers change without warning, so it helps to watch who is talking.
Christians have read the Song in two main ways: as a celebration of love and desire within marriage, a good gift from God, and as a picture of God's love for His people, or Christ's love for the church. Many hold both together. Watch for the repeated refrain urging patience, and for the climax: “love is as strong as death.”
Before you read Song of Solomon 4Written by AI
The bridegroom praises his bride's beauty in a long string of images drawn from nature: doves, flocks, a tower, twin fawns. To modern ears some comparisons sound unusual, but each one is a way of saying she is lovely and treasured. He calls her a garden locked up, and at the end she invites him into her garden.
Solomon Admires His BrideThe Bridegroom
How 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.
Your 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.
Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon,
and your mouth is lovely.
Your brow behind your veil
is like a slice of pomegranate.
Your neck is like the tower of David,
built with rows of stones;
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of warriors.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
Before the day breaks and the shadows flee,
I will make my way
to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of frankincense.
You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
in you there is no flaw.
Come 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.
You 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.
How delightful is your love,
my sister, my bride!
Your love is much better than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.
Your 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.
My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up,
a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.
Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates
with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,
with nard and saffron, with calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of frankincense tree,
with myrrh and aloes,
with all the finest spices.
You are a garden spring,
a well of fresh water
flowing down from Lebanon.
The Bride
Awake, 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.