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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- KJV Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- NKJV Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
- NASB “Your lips drip honey, my bride; Honey and milk are under your tongue, And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
- NLT Your lips are as sweet as nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. Your clothes are scented like the cedars of Lebanon.
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
Her lips and speech are sweet as honey and milk, her garments fragrant. It praises her words and presence as delightful.
Overview
Honey and milk under her tongue and the scent of Lebanon on her garments depict her speech and presence as sweet and pleasing. Gracious words are themselves a delight (Prov. 16:24). The sweetness of the bride's words reflects the loveliness the Lord works in His people, whose speech becomes seasoned with grace (Col. 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Song 5:1I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.
- Song 7:9and your mouth like the finest wine. May it flow smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth.
- Gen 27:27So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
- Song 5:13His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
- Hos 14:6–7His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
- Song 4:3Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.
- Prov 5:3Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
- Isa 7:15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.
- Ps 71:23–24When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed.
- Prov 16:24Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
- Heb 13:15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
- Prov 24:13–14Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
- Ps 45:8All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.
- Ps 71:14–15But I will always hope and will praise You more and more.
- Ps 19:10They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
- Hos 14:2Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.
- Song 4:10How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices.
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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 4:11 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.