Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
Parallel Translations
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Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
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Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
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Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 4:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.
- Song of Solomon 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies.
- Song of Solomon 7:3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe.
- Proverbs 5:19 A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.
- Song of Solomon 8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.
- 1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
- Song of Solomon 1:13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
- Song of Solomon 7:7 This, your stature, is like a palm tree, your breasts like its fruit.
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.
- Isaiah 66:10-12 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” For Yahweh says, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wherein are knowledge and zeal two precious jewels.
Wherein are knowledge and zeal two precious jewels.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 4:5 Thy two breasts [are] like two young…
Son 4:5 Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Ver. 5. Thy two breasts are like two young roes, &c.] From the neck he descendeth to the breasts, and by these descriptions of beauty in all parts (for the rest are to be understood, though not here specified) is signified, that the spirit of regeneration worketh upon the whole man in all manner of virtue. Holiness in the heart, as the candle in the lantern, appears in the body, and every member thereof. Spirit, soul, and body are sanctified throughout, {1Th 5:23} like as the most holy place, the sanctuary, and the outer court of Solomon’s temple, were filled with the cloud. The Church’s breasts here are said to be fair, full, and equally matched. Hereby some understand the two testaments, those "breasts of consolation," {Isa 66:11} fair and full, strutting with "sincere milk," that her children may all suck and be satisfied - viz., batten, grow up, and increase with the increase of God, to a full stature in Christ. {1Pe 2:2} These breasts are also suitable and equal, as twins. The two testaments are so in sundry respects; for, as the Old Testament hath four sorts of books - viz., legal, historic, wisdom, prophetic, so hath the New in a due proportion. Answerable to the legal are the evangelical; to the historical are the Acts of the Apostles; to the wisdom or dogmatic are the epistles - wherein, as St Paul principally presseth faith, so St Peter hope, and St John charity - and to the prophetical, Apocalyps, ut sic mira sit conformitas, saith Bonaventure, non solum in continentia sensuum, sed in quadriformitate partium, so that there is a wondrous conformity of one testament to another, not only in the similarity of sense, but in the quadriformity also of parts. And this was mystically set forth, saith he, by Ezekiel in his vision of the wheel with four faces, and this wheel within a wheel, implying the Old Testament in the New, and the New Testament in the Old.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Thy two breasts; another part in which beauty consists,…
Thy two breasts; another part in which beauty consists, Eze 16:7. By which some understand the two testaments, or the two sacraments; but these are rather Christ’s than the church’s breasts. Others, the church’s fervent love to Christ, and to all the saints, for the breasts signify love, Pro 5:9; Son 1:13. Others, her fruitfulness, both in good works, and in bringing up children unto Christ, like a nurse with her breasts. But the following similitude seemeth not to respect the use of the breasts, or the love which is signified or manifested by them, but their comeliness. And therefore this is generally to be understood of the church’s beauty in all parts, as hath been said.
Among the lilies, i.e. in the fields where lilies grew, as is evident, both from Mat 6:28, where they are called the lilies of the field, and from other scriptures, and from the testimony of other writers. The lilies being white and swelling, and the roes of a reddish colour, and their bodies being hid from sight by the lilies, their heads only appearing above them, bear some resemblance to the red nipples appearing in the top of the lily white breasts. But we must remember that this book is a sacred pastoral, and the Bridegroom is represented as a shepherd, and the bride as a country maid; and therefore such similitudes are used as are agreeable to persons of that quality, and such are usual in profane writers of this kind, as the learned have observed. They are compared to
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roes for their loveliness, of which see Pro 5:19; to young ones for their smallness, which in breasts is a beauty; to twins for their exact likeness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Lillies - In the fields where lillies grow.
Lillies - In the fields where lillies grow.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Thy two breasts are like two young…
Verse 5. Thy two breasts are like two young roes] I have met with many attempts to support this similitude, or rather to show that there is a similitude; but I judge them unworthy of citation. The poet speaks the language of nature; and in a case of this kind, where the impassioned lover attempts to describe the different perfections of his bride, language often fails him, and his comparisons and similitudes are often without strict correctness. In love songs we have heard ladies' necks compared to that of the swan, not only for its whiteness, but also for its length! The description here shows more of nature than of art, which I consider a high recommendation.
Feed among the lilies.] It may be the nipples especially, which the poet compares to the two young roes; and the lilies may refer to the whiteness of the breasts themselves.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Roes. This comparison does not seem happy: but exactitude…
Roes. This comparison does not seem happy: but exactitude is not required. (Calmet) --- Indeed if we were to take all in the literal sense, a very grotesque figure would arise, with a head like Carmel, a nose like a tower, &c., which shews that the tropological or allegorical sense must be adopted. (Du Hamel) --- The two Testaments given for our instruction, (chap. i. 2.) or the charity towards God and our neighbour, may be meant. (Theodoret)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Roes… which feed — The red kids feeding…
5. Roes… which feed — The red kids feeding upon the white lilies, which, springing up in profusion, carpet their pasture-ground, form a true and natural comparison, given in the style of warm oriental poetry.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. two young roes, &c.] two fawns that are…
5. two young roes, &c.] two fawns that are twins of a gazelle.
which feed among the lilies] pasturing among the lilies. Probably the comparison is meant to be limited merely to the twin fawns, and the feeding among the lilies is simply a familiar and somewhat conventional background (cp. Son_2:16 and Son_6:2-3), intended to complete the picture of the fawns in their native haunts.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are…
Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies. This is a beautiful and yet perfectly delicate figure, describing the lovely equality and perfect shape and sweet freshness of the maiden"s bosom. The meadow covered with lilies suggests beauty and fragrance. Thus the loveliness of the bride is set forth in seven comparisons, her perfections being sevenfold. "A twin pair of the young of the gazelle, lying in a bed covered with lilies, representing the fragrant delicacy and elegance of a chaste virgin besom, veiled by the folds of a dress redolent of sweet odour". (cf. Son_1:13) The bridegroom, having thus delighted himself in praise of his bride"s loveliness, then proceeds to declare his desire for her sweet society, but he is interrupted by the bride.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:5 Your breasts are like two fawns . .…
4:5 Your breasts are like two fawns . . . grazing among the lilies: The comparison can be seen in terms of physical softness, firmness, beauty, and roundness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.