Song of Solomon 4:5

Translation
King James Version
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Ask
KJV (with Strong's)
Thy two H8147 breasts H7699 are like two H8147 young H6082 roes H6646 that are twins H8380, which feed H7462 among the lilies H7799.
Ask
Complete Jewish Bible
Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among lilies.
Ask
Berean Standard Bible
Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
Ask
American Standard Version
Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe, Which feed among the lilies.
Ask
World English Bible Messianic
Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
Ask
Geneva Bible (1599)
Thy two breastes are as two young roes that are twinnes, feeding among the lilies.
Ask
Young's Literal Translation
Thy two breasts are as two fawns, Twins of a roe, that are feeding among lilies.
Ask
See also
Song of Solomon 7:3Song of Solomon 2:16Song of Solomon 6:3Song of Solomon 8:10Proverbs 5:191 Peter 2:2Song of Solomon 8:1
In the KJVVerse 17,588 of 31,102

Study This Verse

SUMMARY

Song of Solomon 4:5 offers a tender and vivid portrayal of the beloved's physical beauty, specifically her breasts, which are likened to "two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies." This verse is an integral part of a larger, impassioned praise poem delivered by the lover, celebrating the grace, purity, and inherent allure of his cherished one. It profoundly underscores the deep affection, admiration, and delight that characterize their romantic and marital bond within the idyllic, pastoral setting of the Song of Songs, affirming the goodness and beauty of physical intimacy within a committed relationship.

CONTEXT

  • Literary Context: Song of Solomon 4:5 is situated within a highly poetic and intimate section (Song of Solomon 4:1-7) where the male lover, traditionally understood as King Solomon, expresses his profound admiration for his beloved, the Shulamite woman. This particular verse follows a meticulous description of her eyes, hair, teeth, lips, and temples, creating a crescendo of praise that culminates in this intimate and evocative comparison. The entire passage serves as a powerful declaration of the lover's deep delight in his beloved's physical and natural attractiveness, employing rich, pastoral imagery to articulate his overwhelming affection and desire. It functions as a pivotal moment in the unfolding narrative of their mutual love, building anticipation for their shared intimacy and affirming the holistic nature of their bond.
  • Historical & Cultural Context: The imagery and expressions found in Song of Solomon 4:5 resonate deeply with ancient Near Eastern traditions of love poetry, where elaborate and often metaphorical descriptions of a beloved's physical attributes were a common literary convention. In this cultural milieu, beauty was frequently associated with health, vitality, fertility, and a harmonious connection to nature—all highly esteemed qualities. The specific imagery of "young roes" (gazelles) and "lilies" draws directly from the pastoral landscape of ancient Israel, where such animals were admired for their grace, agility, and delicate beauty, and lilies for their pristine appearance and fragrant allure. These natural elements would have been immediately recognizable and deeply evocative to the original audience, conveying a sense of unspoiled, natural charm and an idyllic backdrop for the celebrated love. The book, while open to allegorical interpretations in later traditions, primarily functions as a profound and unashamed celebration of human love and sexuality within the sanctity of marriage.
  • Key Themes: This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes within the Song of Solomon. Primarily, it champions the celebration of beauty and profound admiration, as the lover meticulously details and extols the physical attractiveness of his beloved, thereby highlighting the depth and sincerity of his affection. It also underscores the theme of intimacy and affection within a committed relationship, portraying a love that is both passionate and tender, rooted in mutual delight. The pervasive use of natural imagery—specifically "roes" and "lilies"—connects the beloved's beauty to the purity, grace, and flourishing life of creation, suggesting a natural and unblemished allure that is inherently good. Ultimately, the Song of Solomon, including this verse, stands as a profound affirmation of the sanctity and goodness of marital love and physical intimacy as a divine gift, a theme echoed in other biblical texts that uphold the marital covenant, such as Proverbs 5:18-19 and Hebrews 13:4. The detailed praise here is not merely superficial but speaks to a holistic appreciation of one's beloved, recognizing her as a masterpiece of creation.

EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

Key Word Analysis

  • Breasts (Hebrew, shad', H7699): This term refers to the female breast, often implying a sense of fullness, prominence, or nurturing capacity. In the intimate context of the Song of Solomon, it carries connotations of mature beauty, fertility, and deep intimacy, serving as a significant source of comfort, allure, and physical connection within the marital relationship. The lover's focus on this part of the beloved's body is a direct and unreserved expression of physical attraction and profound desire.
  • Young roes (Hebrew, _ʻôpher', _tsᵉbîyâh'__, H6082): The combination of these terms describes fawns or female gazelles, creatures universally renowned for their delicate beauty, swiftness, and exceptionally graceful movements. This imagery evokes a powerful sense of youthful vibrancy, natural elegance, and perhaps a captivating, even playful, charm. The comparison to "young roes" suggests a symmetry, vitality, and an alluring form that is both innocent in its naturalness and deeply captivating in its appeal.
  • Lilies (Hebrew, shûwshan', H7799): Lilies are frequently employed in biblical poetry as potent symbols of purity, exquisite beauty, delicate fragrance, and flourishing, vibrant life. The image of graceful gazelles peacefully "feeding among the lilies" conjures a serene, idyllic, and enchanting pastoral scene. This setting suggests a natural, untainted beauty and perhaps a delightfully refreshing presence, much like the pleasantness and splendor of a garden where lilies bloom. This idyllic backdrop further enhances the lover's perception of his beloved's profound and natural allure, akin to how he describes her as belonging to a garden of spices and lilies in other passages.

Verse Breakdown

  • "Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins": This clause initiates a striking simile, directly comparing the beloved's breasts to two young, perfectly identical gazelles. The explicit mention of "two" emphasizes their symmetry, balance, and harmonious form, suggesting a delightful and captivating appearance. The reference to "young roes" (fawns) highlights their youthful vitality, inherent grace, and delicate beauty, while "twins" further underscores their perfect mirroring and unified allure. This comparison speaks to the lover's perception of their exquisite form, natural movement, and captivating charm.
  • "which feed among the lilies": This phrase extends and enriches the initial imagery, placing the "young roes" within an idyllic, serene, and pure setting. "Lilies" symbolize purity, pristine beauty, and fragrant flourishing, often associated with lush gardens and paradisiacal tranquility. The act of "feeding" suggests a peaceful, natural, and uninhibited presence, implying contentment and a thriving environment. This paints a picture of tranquil beauty and natural allure, conveying that the beloved's intimate beauty is not only perfect in form but also pure, refreshing, and deeply delightful, like a serene and verdant garden. It evokes a sense of peaceful abundance and untainted charm surrounding her.

Literary Devices

Song of Solomon 4:5 is profoundly rich in Imagery, painting a vivid and captivating mental picture of the beloved's physical beauty. The primary literary device employed is Simile, which directly compares the beloved's breasts to "two young roes that are twins." This comparison is not arbitrary; it draws upon the cultural understanding of gazelles as potent symbols of grace, agility, delicate beauty, and youthful vigor, thereby elevating and idealizing the beloved's physical attributes. The subsequent phrase, "which feed among the lilies," introduces further Symbolism, as lilies consistently represent purity, pristine beauty, and flourishing life within biblical and ancient Near Eastern contexts. This creates an idyllic, pastoral setting that underscores the natural, untainted, and refreshing allure of the beloved. The combined effect of these devices is to convey a sense of profound admiration, tender affection, and aesthetic delight, transforming a physical description into a deeply poetic and spiritually resonant celebration of beauty and intimacy within the marital bond.

THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

Song of Solomon 4:5, with its intimate and appreciative portrayal of the beloved's physical beauty, contributes significantly to the biblical theology of marriage and human sexuality. It unequivocally affirms that physical attraction and the delight in one's spouse's form are not only permissible but are good, pure, and divinely ordained within the sacred covenant of marriage. This verse, like the entire Song, celebrates the holistic nature of love, where physical intimacy is presented as a beautiful, natural, and unashamed expression of deep affection, admiration, and unwavering commitment. It serves as a profound reminder that God, as the benevolent Creator, designed human beings with the capacity for profound physical and emotional connection, and that such intimacy, when honored within the sanctity and security of marriage, is a profound source of joy, pleasure, and blessing, reflecting the very goodness and wisdom inherent in creation.

REFLECTION AND APPLICATION

Song of Solomon 4:5 offers a profound invitation to reflect on the inherent beauty and sacredness of marital love and intimacy, as designed by God. In a world that frequently distorts, commercializes, or even devalues physical attraction, this verse—and indeed the entire Song of Solomon—provides a robust biblical framework for appreciating and celebrating the physical beauty of one's spouse within the secure, committed, and devoted context of marriage. It powerfully encourages spouses to openly express their admiration, delight, and affection for each other, not merely on an emotional or spiritual level, but also physically, fostering a deeper sense of intimacy, affirmation, and profound connection. This kind of open, appreciative communication builds trust, strengthens the marital bond, and reflects God's good and perfect design for human relationships. It challenges believers to cultivate a vision of love that is both passionately intimate and profoundly pure, honoring the beloved as a unique and precious gift from the Creator.

Questions for Reflection

  • How does the imagery of "young roes" and "lilies" shape your understanding of beauty, grace, and purity within the context of a loving relationship?
  • In what practical and intentional ways can spouses actively affirm and celebrate each other's unique qualities, both inner character and outer form, within their marriage?
  • What profound lessons does this verse impart regarding the importance of intimacy, delight, and mutual admiration in God's divine design for marriage?
  • How can we cultivate a perspective that sees physical attraction within the bounds of marriage as a good, blessed, and sacred aspect of God's creation, rather than something to be hidden or viewed with shame?

FAQ

Is Song of Solomon 4:5 too explicit for the Bible?

Answer: While the language of Song of Solomon 4:5, like much of the book, is undeniably intimate and physically descriptive, it is not considered "explicit" in a vulgar or inappropriate sense. Instead, it employs rich poetic and symbolic language to celebrate the physical beauty of the beloved within the sacred and committed context of marital love. The Bible, as God's inspired Word, encompasses the full spectrum of human experience, and this book boldly affirms that physical attraction and sexual intimacy within marriage are good, pure, and blessed by God. It presents a healthy, unashamed, and elevated view of marital love, standing in stark contrast to illicit or exploitative portrayals.

What is the spiritual meaning of "young roes" and "lilies" in this verse?

Answer: While the primary and most direct meaning of Song of Solomon is a literal celebration of human marital love, the rich imagery often lends itself to profound spiritual reflection. "Young roes" symbolize grace, agility, youthful vitality, and captivating beauty, suggesting a vibrant and alluring presence. "Lilies" symbolize purity, exquisite beauty, and flourishing life, frequently associated with gardens and paradisiacal settings. Spiritually, these images can evoke the purity, grace, and spiritual beauty of the Church, the Bride of Christ, or the vitality and flourishing of a soul in intimate communion with God. The "feeding among the lilies" can symbolize finding sustenance, delight, and spiritual nourishment in places of purity and beauty, perhaps in God's presence, His Word, or within the fellowship of His people, as seen in the beloved's declaration, "My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies."

CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT

While Song of Solomon 4:5 literally celebrates the captivating beauty of the Shulamite woman, its profound themes of love, desire, and the beloved's exquisite allure find their ultimate and most glorious fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ and His relationship with His Church. Just as the earthly lover delights in every aspect of his beloved, Christ, the ultimate Bridegroom, cherishes, adores, and profoundly delights in His Church, His redeemed Bride. The purity symbolized by the "lilies" and the grace of the "young roes" can be seen as a beautiful foreshadowing of the spiritual beauty and pristine purity that Christ Himself bestows upon His Church, having "cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:26-27). The profound intimacy and unreserved admiration expressed in this verse powerfully reflect the depth of Christ's unconditional, sacrificial love for His people, a love so immense that it led Him to give Himself up entirely for her (Ephesians 5:25). The Song's celebration of earthly marital love thus serves as a beautiful, albeit imperfect, picture of the divine, eternal union between Christ and His redeemed, a union marked by perfect love, unwavering devotion, and ultimate fulfillment, culminating in the joyous anticipation of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9).

Copy as
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers . Public domain.
Copy as
Origen of AlexandriaAD 253
FRAGMENTS ON LUKE 186
And in the song of the bride, hair, teeth, lips, cheeks, the neck, and breasts, are praised by the bridegroom. The bride is either the soul of man, which enters into marriage with Christ, or the church. The parts of the body are interpreted figuratively: if they are said of the soul, then they apply to its powers.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 24:17
In order to [gain knowledge of heavenly things], we study the examples of the saints who have gone before. They are said to feed among the lilies. For what is meant by lilies but the conduct of those who say with all truth, “We are unto God a sweet savor of Christ.”
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Song of Songs
Your two breasts, etc. The same mysteries of Christ and the Church are repeated in various ways and in many forms, but repeated they always bring something new, which either provides an explanation for the same mysteries or through the novelty itself, delights the minds of the listeners further. Therefore, the same teachers who were previously designated by the names of eyes or teeth or neck, are now expressed by the term breasts: indeed, they may rightly be called eyes, because they perceive the hidden mysteries; rightly called teeth, because by rebuking the wicked, they as it were chew, and pass them into the body of the Church softened and humbled; rightly called neck, because to the whole body of the Church, they minister eternal joys by preaching, as if they were providing vital breath, and prepare the food of doctrines by which it is refashioned for salvation. But they are most aptly called breasts now, because they pour out the milk of the saving word to those who are still infants in Christ. Nor does he say "your two breasts" without reason, with the addition of a number, since no woman usually has more or less than two breasts: he says two breasts, to suggest that the infants of the two peoples, namely the Jewish and the Gentile, are to be nourished in faith. Finally, Paul says: James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision; and so forth (Gal. II). But see what Peter, who was sent to the circumcision, says: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious (I Pet. II). By saying this, he also explains the mystery of the Church’s breasts, saying that it is reasonable to desire the milk of the Lord, because He is sweet. Again, let us see if Paul, who was sent to the uncircumcision, also performs the duty of the breasts; for he says: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat (I Cor. III). These two breasts are like two twins of a roe, because they are indeed offspring of the one to whom it is so often said in this song: Be thou like to a roe or to a young hart. Like twins of a roe, because with the pure eyes of their hearts, they discern what is to be done, what avoided, by which path of virtues to proceed, because with a sagacious mind they perceive the words' complexities to be avoided, and hasten in the swift course of good works from the valley of weeping to the place which God has appointed; so that walking from virtue to virtue they may deserve to see Him in Zion, that is, in the watchtower of eternal habitation. For roes excel in both the swiftness of their feet and the sharpness of their eyes; hence those who are ordered to show the way of knowledge and virtue to the unlearned are fittingly compared to these. As he says, like two twins of a roe; well twins, because imbued with the same faith, renewed by the same sacraments, the teachers of both peoples gather all whom they educate into the one Church of Christ. Thus, Peter says of those who believed from the uncircumcision: And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Acts XV).
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Song of Songs
Those who are fed among the lilies, etc. The holy teachers are nourished by the pure and resplendent flowers of the divine Scriptures, and lest the milk of salvific doctrine, with which they feed the little ones, should lack, they always read in the writings of the Fathers what they ought to achieve, how they should teach, and they satisfy their hearts as though with vital sap, and this until the end of the world. For after that day shall dawn which the Psalmist desiringly spoke of: For one day in your courts is better than a thousand (Psalm 83), there will be neither a time for teaching nor a time for learning. The prophecy will be fulfilled which says: And they shall not teach each other, saying: Know the Lord, for they shall all know me (Jeremiah 31); but with all the shadows of this world entirely inclined and consumed, the saints will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13), each receiving rewards according to what they have learned, done, and taught. Beautiful, indeed, as far as the natural order is concerned, is the vanishing of the night, the inclination of the shadows, because the darkness of the night, as philosophers say, is nothing other than the shadow of the earth. For the sun, circling the earth, brings with it light and day; on the other hand, from the side where it is absent, it leaves the shadow of the earth. And this is the primordial division whereby God divided between the light and the darkness. These shadows, with the sun setting, and now and then rising again, gradually begin to lift, and as much as the sun descends under the earth, these shadows grow and rise, until, at the midpoint of the night, the sun being set under the middle of the earth, the shadows themselves, now raised, occupy the middle of the earth, and then, with the sun gradually proceeding, they also gradually bend towards their setting, until, with the dawn appearing, they entirely inclining vanish away. Therefore, the shadows of the earth do not reach the stars because the sun, created larger than the earth, makes a pointed shadow which, before it reaches the stars, dissipates, and the splendor of the sun spread all around the earth freely illuminates the stars that look upon it. Hence, the present life is night; the sun of justice, Christ. Whose light is often concealed from us by the heavy mass of earthly desires, so that it is not seen. And as strictly as He recedes from us, we are darkened; as graciously as He returns, we are illuminated. Truly, however, we will enjoy His light when, all darkness of present affliction and blindness being now inclined and dispersed, we will see Him as He is (1 John 3). Yet, being mindful of our salvation in all things, He did not leave the night of this life entirely in darkness, but like planting stars in the sky, He proposed to us the examples of the saints, through which we might walk the path of our deeds unfalteringly.
Richard ChallonerAD 1781
Thy two breasts: Mystically to be understood: the love of God and the love of our neighbour, which are so united as twins which feed among the lilies: that is, the love of God and our neighbour, feeds on the divine mysteries and the holy sacraments, left by Christ to his spouse to feed and nourish her children.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
Copy as

Continue studying Song of Solomon 4:5 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.

Read & Compare

Commentaries

Original Language & Research

Sermons, Hymns & Audio

TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.