1 H ow fair you are, my love, how very fair! Your eyes behind your veil of those of a dove; your hair of a flock of goats which one sees trailing down Mount Gilead.

2 Y our teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes which have come up from the washing, of which all are in pairs, and none is missing among them.

3 Y our lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

4 Y our neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.

5 Y our two breasts are like two fawns, like twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies.

6 U ntil the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will get to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.

7 O my love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you!

8 C ome away with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

9 Y ou have ravished my heart and given me courage, my sister, my bride; you have ravished my heart and given me courage with one look from your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

10 H ow beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! And the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!

11 Y our lips, O my bride, drop honey as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the odor of your garments is like the odor of Lebanon.

12 A garden enclosed and barred is my sister, my bride—a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13 Y our shoots are an orchard of pomegranates or a paradise with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,

14 S pikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices.

15 Y ou are a fountain in a garden, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

16 O h, I pray that the north wind and the south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits.