How 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead.
- KJV Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
- NKJV Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, Going down from Mount Gilead.
- NASB “How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Mount Gilead.
- NLT You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
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
The beloved praises the bride's beauty, especially her eyes and hair. It begins his admiring description of her loveliness.
Overview
He calls her beautiful and likens her veiled eyes to doves and her flowing hair to a flock descending Gilead. The praise is tender, specific, and delights in her whole person. The Lord likewise beholds His people as beautiful, taking joy in them through His grace (Song 1:15; Isa. 62:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Song 6:5Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
- Song 1:15How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
- Song 6:7Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.
- Mic 7:14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
- Song 2:14O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.
- Song 4:9–10You 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.
- Song 7:5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.
- 2 Cor 3:18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- Ezek 16:14Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.
- Phil 2:3–5Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- Song 5:11–12His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
- Num 32:40So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.
- Song 2:10My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.
- Num 32:1Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.
- Ps 45:11and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.
- Matt 11:29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 4:1 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.