Song of Solomon 4:3
in Song of Solomon 4Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, And thy mouth is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 4
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThy lips are like a thread of scarlet,.... To a "thread" for thinness, to "scarlet" for colour; thin red lips being beautiful, as well as white teeth; so the beautiful Aspasia had red lips (b), and teeth whiter than snow; hence we read of red and purple lips (c).
This site's exposition
How beautiful you are, my darling
on Song of Solomon 4:1-5
The chapter opens the poem's first full song of praise, moving downward from "Your eyes are like doves behind your veil". Its images come from a shepherd's world, goats "streaming down Mount Gilead". The likeness lies in the impression, adorned dignity in a neck like "the tower of David".
This site's exposition
like a slice of pomegranate
John Gill read the ribbon for thinness and the scarlet for colour, since thin red lips were counted beautiful. Adam Clarke pictured a pomegranate cut open, its inside streaked with red and white. Colour carries both images.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church4 voices
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 4 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
What do we understand by the cheeks of the Church, if not those same preachers who, while they stand out among the peoples so as to benefit them, appear as if visible upon the face of the Church? By the pomegranate, moreover, the Church itself …
Like a scarlet ribbon, your lips, etc. The lips of the bride are compared to scarlet because the Church ceaselessly proclaims the price of the Lord's blood by which it was redeemed; but it continually sings: But far be it from me to boast except …
Like a fragment of a pomegranate, etc. We have also previously taught that shame is designated by the cheeks, because surely a sudden blush usually spreads over these when we are embarrassed. However, the pomegranate, because it is of a rosy color, quite fittingly hints …
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 4 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
These same preachers are called the lips of the Church, because through them she speaks the precepts of life to the peoples. They are fittingly compared to a ribbon, because while they restrain loose thoughts in the hearts of men by their preaching, they hold …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
All our good works and good words must be washed in the blood of Christ, dyed like the scarlet thread, and then, and not till then, they are acceptable to God. The Chaldee applies it to the chief priest, and his prayers for Israel on the day of atonement.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thy speech - Which is added as another ingredient of an amiable person; and to explain the foregoing metaphor. The discourse of believers is edifying and comfortable, and acceptable to God, and to serious men.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet - Both lips and cheeks were ruddy; sicut fragmen mali punici - Vulgate. Like the section of a pomegranate, that side cut off on which is the finest blush. This is a good and apt metaphor. But the inside may be referred to, as it is finely streaked with red and white melting into each other. She had beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful cheeks and lips, and a most pleasing and dulcet voice. Within thy locks - See on Son 4:1 (note), and Son 4:7 (note).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
thread--like a delicate fillet. Not thick and white as the leper's lips (type of sin), which were therefore to be "covered," as "unclean" (Le 13:45). scarlet--The blood of Jesus Christ (Isa 6:5-9) cleanses the leprosy, and unseals the lips (Isa 57:19; Rahab's scarlet thread was a type of it (Jos 2:18). speech--not a separate feature from the lips (Zep 3:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thy speech is comely - Perhaps, “thy mouth,” i. e., the organ of speech.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּח֤וּט | kechut | [are] like [the] thread of | H2339 → | |
| הַשָּׁנִי֙ | hashani | <the> scarlet | H8144 → | |
| שִׂפְתֹתַ֔יִךְ | siftotayikh | lips your | H8193 → | 176 times |
| וּמִדְבָּרֵ֖יךְ | umidbareikh | and mouth your | H4057 → | 270 times |
| נָאוֶ֑ה | naveh | [is] lovely | H5000 → | 10 times |
| כְּפֶ֤לַח | kefelach | [is] like [the] slice of | H6400 → | |
| הָֽרִמּוֹן֙ | harimon | <the> pomegranate | H7416 → | 32 times |
| רַקָּתֵ֔ךְ | rakatekh | temple your | H7541 → | |
| מִבַּ֖עַד | mibaad | from behind | H1157 → | 105 times |
| לְצַמָּתֵֽךְ׃ | letzamatekh | to veil your | H6777 → | 4 times |
כְּח֤וּט[are] like [the] thread of
kechutH2339 →
הַשָּׁנִי֙<the> scarlet
hashaniH8144 →
שִׂפְתֹתַ֔יִךְlips your
siftotayikhH8193 →176 times
וּמִדְבָּרֵ֖יךְand mouth your
umidbareikhH4057 →270 times
נָאוֶ֑ה[is] lovely
navehH5000 →10 times
כְּפֶ֤לַח[is] like [the] slice of
kefelachH6400 →
הָֽרִמּוֹן֙<the> pomegranate
harimonH7416 →32 times
רַקָּתֵ֔ךְtemple your
rakatekhH7541 →
מִבַּ֖עַדfrom behind
mibaadH1157 →105 times
לְצַמָּתֵֽךְ׃to veil your
letzamatekhH6777 →4 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
it leads to
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
- Ecclesiastes 10:12
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.
- Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
- Colossians 3:8–9
But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- Colossians 4:6
Through
Ezra 9:6and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
it leads to
- Revelation 18:5
For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Psalms 38:4
For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
- Revelation 18:5
Through
Joshua 2:18unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother and brothers and all…
it leads to
- Joshua 6:23
So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp…
- Joshua 6:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 4.