Song of Solomon 4:3 BSB

Song of Solomon 4:3

Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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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Commentary

3 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Thy 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).

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

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).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

10 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
כְּח֤וּט	ke.Chut	[are] like [the] thread of	H2339 →
הַשָּׁנִי֙	ha.sha.Ni	<the> scarlet	H8144 →
שִׂפְתֹתַ֔יִךְ	sif.to.Ta.yikh	lips your	H8193 →
וּמִדְבָּרֵ֖יךְ	u.mid.ba.Reikh	and mouth your	H4057 →
נָאוֶ֑ה	na.Veh	[is] lovely	H5000 →
כְּפֶ֤לַח	ke.Fe.lach	[is] like [the] slice of	H6400 →
הָֽרִמּוֹן֙	ha.ri.mOn	<the> pomegranate	H7416 →
רַקָּתֵ֔ךְ	ra.ka.Tekh	temple your	H7541 →
מִבַּ֖עַד	mi.Ba.'ad	from behind	H1157 →
לְצַמָּתֵֽךְ׃	le.tza.ma.Tekh	to veil your	H6777 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Ephesians 4:29
Let 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.
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.
Through
Ezra 9:6
and 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.
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.
Through
Joshua 2:18
unless, 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…
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…

Featured studies on this passage

On Song of Solomon 4:3

The Wilderness

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The Meeting of Isaac and Rebekah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Song of Solomon

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Song of Solomon