Song of Solomon 4:2
in Song of Solomon 4Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, Which are come up from the washing, Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 4
Commentary
17 notes on this verse[There is a] pleasing comparison to those that are shorn; for we know that goats both feed in high places without risk and securely find their food in rugged places, and then when shorn are freed from what is superfluous. The church is likened to a flock of these, having in itself the many virtues of those souls which through the laver lay aside the superfluity of sins and offer to Christ the mystic faith and the grace of good living, which speak of the cross of the Lord Jesus.
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
coming up from the washing
The older readers took the image in several directions. The Chaldee paraphrase, Matthew Henry reported, applied the teeth to the priests and Levites who ate the sacrifices. Ambrose saw the shorn and washed flock as souls that lay aside their sins in the washing of baptism.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
The teeth of the church are those through whom she speaks. Of what sort are your teeth? "Like a flock of sheep that are shorn." Why "that are shorn"? Because they have laid aside the burdens of the world. Were not those sheep, of which I was a little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding of God had shorn when he said, "Go and sell what you have, and give to the poor; and you shall find treasure in heaven: and come and follow me"? They performed this bidding: shorn they came. And because those who believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said "which come up from the washing" means they have come up from cleansing. "Whereof every one bears twins." What twins? Those two commandments, whereupon hang all the law and the prophets.
"Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes." What do shorn ewes mean? Those who lay aside secular burdens. What does shorn mean? Those who lay aside their fleeces, like the load of secular burdens. Those persons were your teeth, about whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles that "they sold all their possessions and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles, so that distribution might be made to each, as there was need." You have received the fleeces of your shorn ewes. That flock has come up from the washing of holy baptism. All have given birth, because they have fulfilled the two commandments.
He says to the church, his spouse, "Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them." By this twin offspring the twofold object of love is meant, namely, God and the neighbor: "On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets."
Now is the time to examine the beauty attributed to the teeth of shorn sheep.… If we look at the literal meaning of this verse, I do not see how teeth can be compared with prolific sheep.… What then can we gather from these words? Persons reducing the divine mysteries into small fragments for a clearer interpretation of the text make spiritual food more easily acceptable for the body of the church. They perform the function of teeth by receiving the thick, dense bread of the text into their mouths. By a more subtle contemplation, they make the food delectable.
"Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn." A sincere confession is a spiritual shearing! And further: "all of them big with twins," signifying the twofold grace, either that perfected by water and the Spirit, or that announced in the Old and in the New Testament.
9 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church4 voices
Where the words of Scripture signify things of creation, or the conduct of the Israelite people, there one should seek from another passage of Scripture what each thing signifies, and then derive its signification through words plainly signifying the truth of faith, or the uprightness …
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, etc. Just as in the hair of the Church, the people who are still dedicated to more fragile deeds are designated, in the teeth, the more perfect ones and those suited for governing the Church are …
All bear twin offspring, etc. The sheep of Christ bear twin offspring, because all whom the holy teachers bring to God through preaching, they instruct in the twin love of the same God and neighbor. They bear twins, because they imbue the disciples whom they …
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 4 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
Just as by the eyes preachers are understood, because through them the Church is illuminated, so likewise they can be called her teeth, because through them unbelievers are consumed and little ones are nourished. Indeed, holy preachers are rightly called teeth, because when they elucidate …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The Chaldee paraphrase applies it to the priests and Levites, who fed upon the sacrifices as the representatives of the people. Faith, by which we feed upon Christ, meditation, by which we ruminate on the word and chew the cud upon what we have heard, in order to the digesting of it, are the teeth of the new man. These are here compared to a flock of sheep.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
even shorn--the Hebrew is translated (1Ki 6:25), "of one size"; so the point of comparison to teeth is their symmetry of form; as in "came up from the washing," the spotless whiteness; and in "twins," the exact correspondence of the upper and lower teeth: and in "none barren," none wanting, none without its fellow. Faith is the tooth with which we eat the living bread (Joh 6:35, 54).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Thy teeth are like a flock - This comparison appears to be founded on the evenness, neatness, and whiteness of the newly shorn and newly washed sheep.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Whereof ... - Or, “all of them are equal pairs, and none is bereft among them,” i. e., none has lost her mate. The points of comparison in this simile are of course brilliant whiteness, regularity, and completeness of number.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Behold you are beautiful my beloved. He praised them and appeased them, and their sacrifices pleased Him.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
On that day King Solomon sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings on the altar and his offering was accepted with favor by YY.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁנַּ֙יִךְ֙ | shinayikh | teeth your | H8127 → | 55 times |
| כְּעֵ֣דֶר | keeder | [are] like [the] flock of | H5739 → | 38 times |
| הַקְּצוּב֔וֹת | haketzuvot | <the> shorn [ewes] | H7094 → | |
| שֶׁעָל֖וּ | shealu | that <they> have come up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הָרַחְצָ֑ה | harachtzah | the washing | H7367 → | |
| שֶׁכֻּלָּם֙ | shekulam | that all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַתְאִימ֔וֹת | matimot | [are] bearing twins | H8382 → | |
| וְשַׁכֻּלָ֖ה | veshakulah | and [is one] deprived of offspring | H7909 → | |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| בָּהֶֽם׃ | bahem | among them |
שִׁנַּ֙יִךְ֙teeth your
shinayikhH8127 →55 times
כְּעֵ֣דֶר[are] like [the] flock of
keederH5739 →38 times
הַקְּצוּב֔וֹת<the> shorn [ewes]
haketzuvotH7094 →
שֶׁעָל֖וּthat <they> have come up
shealuH5927 →890 times
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הָרַחְצָ֑הthe washing
harachtzahH7367 →
שֶׁכֻּלָּם֙that all of them
shekulamH3605 →5413 times
מַתְאִימ֔וֹת[are] bearing twins
matimotH8382 →
וְשַׁכֻּלָ֖הand [is one] deprived of offspring
veshakulahH7909 →
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
בָּהֶֽם׃among them
bahem
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
Jeremiah 15:16Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.
it leads to
- Revelation 10:9–10
And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as…
- Ezekiel 3:1–3
“Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
- Psalms 119:101–103
I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word.
- Job 23:12
I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.
- Psalms 19:10
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
- Revelation 10:9–10
Through
John 15:7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
- 1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- John 14:13
And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- Psalms 37:4
About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 16 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); Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries 7:38; Augustine of Hippo, EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 95:9; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 313B.3; Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 149; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Prologue; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 3:16; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 7; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 4.