BOOK 22 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Song of Solomon 4

Song of Solomon book home•Chapter 4 of 8•16 verses

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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Song of Solomon 4 Overview

The man praises the woman’s beauty in detailed poetic images, calls her his spouse, describes her as an enclosed garden, and the chapter closes with her invitation for the beloved to enjoy the garden’s fruits.

Song of SolomonBook

4Chapter

16Verses

PoetryDivision

Before you read Song of Solomon 4

Coming from

Chapter 3 ended with public royal wedding imagery. Chapter 4 turns from procession to intimate marital admiration and exclusiveness.

In this chapter

Leads into

Chapter 5 begins with enjoyment of the garden imagery, then moves into separation, failed response, painful searching, and renewed praise of the beloved.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The physical comparisons are ancient Near Eastern poetry. Modern readers should hear them as stylized admiration rather than evaluate whether each metaphor matches modern beauty language.

The “garden enclosed” and “spring shut up” imagery emphasizes exclusiveness and protected intimacy. The chapter closes with invitation, showing that exclusiveness is not cold distance but intimacy shared with the beloved.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Marital praise should be specific and generous

The man notices and verbalizes what he finds beautiful in his wife.

Sexual exclusiveness is presented positively

The enclosed garden image honors intimacy that belongs within the marriage relationship.

Desire is mutual

The woman’s closing invitation shows willing participation rather than one-sided taking.

The whole person is valued

Beauty language includes presence, speech, fragrance, and relational delight, not merely body parts.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Proverbs 5:15-19

The enclosed-water imagery resonates with Proverbs’ command to rejoice in one’s own spouse and keep sexual delight within marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5

Paul’s teaching on mutual marital affection and consent aligns with the Song’s reciprocal desire.

Ephesians 5:28-29

Husbands are commanded to nourish and cherish their wives, fitting the chapter’s attentive, affirming love.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not mock ancient metaphors by forcing modern literalism.

The language is poetic praise shaped by its culture and natural world.

Do not turn exclusiveness into control.

The garden imagery celebrates covenant intimacy; it does not justify possessiveness, coercion, or treating a spouse as property.

Read Song of Solomon 4 watching for…

specific praise of beauty

the word “spouse”

garden and fountain imagery

exclusiveness

fragrance and fruit

the woman’s invitation

Chapter outline3 sections

1-7The beloved praises her beauty from head to foot 8-14He calls his spouse from Lebanon and praises her love and garden-like fragrance 15-16She invites the winds to blow upon her garden and her beloved to enter

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.

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

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!

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.

A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,

Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

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Song of Solomon 4:6

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