Song of Songs — Chapter 4
Ah, you are fair, my darling,Ah, you are fair.Your eyes are like dovesBehind your veil.Your hair is like a flock of goatsStreaming down Mount Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of ewesaewes Cf. 6.6; exact nuance of qeṣuboth uncertain, perhaps “shorn ones.” Climbing up from the washing pool;All of them bear twins,And not one loses her young.
Your lips are like a crimson thread,Your mouth is lovely.Your brow behind your veil[Gleams] like a pomegranate split open.
Your neck is like the Tower of David,Built to hold weapons,bto hold weapons Apparently a poetic figure for jewelry; meaning of Heb. uncertain. Hung with a thousand shields—All the quivers of warriors.
Your breasts are like two fawns,Twins of a gazelle,Browsing among the lilies.
cSee notes at 2.17. When the day blows gentlyAnd the shadows flee,I will betake me to the mount of myrrh,To the hill of frankincense.
Every part of you is fair, my darling,There is no blemish in you.
From Lebanon come with me;From Lebanon, my bride, with me!Trip down from Amana’s peak,From the peak of SenirdSenir Cf. Deut. 3.9. and Hermon,From the dens of lions,From the hillsehills Emendation yields “lairs”; cf. Nah. 2.13. of leopards.
You have captured my heart,My own,fown Lit. “sister”; and so frequently below. my bride,You have captured my heartWith one [glance] of your eyes,With one coil of your necklace.
How sweet is your love,My own, my bride!How much more delightful your love than wine,Your ointments more fragrantThan any spice!
Sweetness dropsFrom your lips, O bride;Honey and milkAre under your tongue;And the scent of your robesIs like the scent of Lebanon.
A garden lockedIs my own, my bride,A fountain locked,A sealed-up spring.
Your limbs are an orchard of pomegranatesAnd of all luscious fruits,Of henna and of nard—
Nard and saffron,Fragrant reed and cinnamon,With all aromatic woods,Myrrh and aloes—All the choice perfumes.
[You are] a garden spring,A well of fresh water,g[You are] a garden spring, / A well of fresh water Emendation yields “The spring in my garden / Is a well of fresh water.” A rill of Lebanon.
Awake, O north wind,Come, O south wind!Blow upon my garden,That its perfume may spread.Let my beloved come to his gardenAnd enjoy its luscious fruits!
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Dhammapada 10:1
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”