How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!
Parallel translations
- WEB How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!
- KJV How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
- BSB 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.
- NASB “How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much sweeter is your love than wine, And the fragrance of your oils Than that of all kinds of balsam oils!
- NLT Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He praises his bride's love as better than wine and her fragrance above all spices. It exalts the sweetness of her love.
Overview
He marvels at how beautiful her love is, surpassing wine and every spice, echoing her earlier praise of him (1:2). The mutual exchange of delight marks healthy, reciprocal love. The surpassing sweetness of love pictures the joy of communion that the Lord and His people share (Song 1:2; Ps. 36:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Song 1:2–4Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.
- Song 7:6How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!
- Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- Song 3:6Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
- Phil 4:18But I have all things, and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
- Song 1:12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
- Song 5:5I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
- 2 Cor 1:21–22Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
- Rev 5:8Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 4:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.