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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
- Song 1:15Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.
- Song 6:7As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
- Mic 7:14Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
- Song 2:14O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
- Song 4:9–10Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
- Song 7:5Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
- 2 Cor 3:18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
- Ezek 16:14And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
- Phil 2:3–5Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
- Song 5:11–12His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
- Num 32:40And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.
- Song 2:10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
- Num 32:1Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle;
- Ps 45:11So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
- Matt 11:29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Resources, by level
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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.