Old Testament · Poetry

Song of Solomon 4

You Are Beautiful

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. A garden locked, a spring sealed — the language of desire and exclusivity.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

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.

Understand This

Song of Solomon 4, explained

What Song of Solomon 4 is saying

The lover delivers an elaborate wasf (descriptive praise poem) cataloguing the beloved's beauty from head to waist: eyes like doves, hair like goats descending Gilead, teeth like shorn ewes, lips like scarlet thread, neck like the tower of David. He calls her 'a garden locked, a fountain sealed' and invites the winds to carry her fragrance.

The background behind it

The wasf form is well-attested in ancient Near Eastern love poetry. The comparisons, while exotic to modern ears, praised beauty through associations with power, abundance, and the natural world. The 'garden locked' metaphor celebrates sexual exclusivity within committed love.

Themes running underneath

The lover's detailed attention to the beloved's body celebrates embodied beauty without shame. The garden metaphor operates on multiple levels—paradise restored, exclusive intimacy, and fertility. The beloved is praised not generically but with specific, attentive observation.

Why it still matters

The lover's detailed praise models what genuine romantic attention looks like: specific, unhurried, and delighting in the particular. It counters both objectification and prudishness about physical beauty.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.