Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 4:1
How beautiful you are, my darling—how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses the beloved woman directly, offering praise during an intimate poetic exchange.
The words — יָפָה (ya.Fah) translates literally to "beautiful," and מִבַּעַד (mi.Ba.ad) means "from behind," structuring the description of her eyes and veil.
The thread — The opening praise for her eyes appears in Song 1:15, the identical hair comparison reappears in Song 6:5, and Song 6:7 introduces a separate feature.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to track how specific natural images are mapped onto physical features to establish a direct pattern of praise.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 1:15 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
- Song of Solomon 6:5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
- Song of Solomon 6:7 Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.
- Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.
- Song of Solomon 4:9 You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
- Song of Solomon 7:5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.
- Micah 7:14 Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
- Numbers 32:1 Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.
- Numbers 32:40 So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.
- Psalms 45:11 and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord.