“His cheeks are like a bed of balsam, Banks of herbal spices; His lips are lilies Dripping with drops of myrrh.
Parallel translations
- WEB His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
- KJV His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
- BSB His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
- NKJV His cheeks are like a bed of spices, Banks of scented herbs. His lips are lilies, Dripping liquid myrrh.
- NLT His cheeks are like gardens of spices giving off fragrance. His lips are like lilies, perfumed with myrrh.
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
His cheeks and lips are fragrant and pleasant, like beds of spices and lilies dripping with myrrh. His presence and his words are sweet and welcome.
Overview
Spices and myrrh evoke costly fragrance, and lilies suggest beauty and refreshment. The picture is of a beloved whose face and speech are delightful to be near. Many readers see here an echo of the believer's experience of Christ, whose words are gracious and whose name is 'as ointment poured forth' (1:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Song 1:10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.
- Song 2:1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
- Song 6:2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
- Song 4:11Your 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.
- Isa 50:6I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
- Luke 4:22All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
- Ps 4:6–7Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
- Ps 89:15Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
- Ps 27:4One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.
- Ps 45:2You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Rev 21:23The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
- 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.
- 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?
- Isa 50:4The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
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 5:13 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.