Song of Songs 4 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 4:1, 4:3, 4:8, 4:10
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 4
The bride and the enclosed garden
Hebrew source [BHS4] • Greek source [LXX4]
Verse 4:1 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:1] Look, you are beautiful, my companion! Look, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:1] Look, you are beautiful, my companion! Look, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves apart from your silence. Your hair is like herds of goats that have appeared from Gilead.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew behind your veil becomes Greek apart from your silence. Greek describes the goats' appearing and does not name the mountain. The difficult Greek silence image is retained rather than restored to a veil.
Verse 4:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:2] Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep coming up from washing, all bearing twins, with none bereaved among them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:2] Your teeth are like herds of shorn sheep coming up from bathing, all bearing twins, with none childless among them.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The flock image evokes matching teeth. Hebrew bereaved and Greek childless remain distinct; neither is replaced with an explanatory missing tooth.
Verse 4:3 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:3] Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your speech is lovely. Your temple is like a slice of pomegranate behind your veil.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:3] Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your speech is lovely. Your cheek is like a pomegranate rind apart from your silence.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek has cheek and rind rather than temple and slice, and repeats silence in place of the Hebrew veil. These are textual images, not allegorical substitutions.
Verse 4:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:4] Your neck is like David's tower, built in courses;
a thousand shields hang upon it, all the bucklers of mighty men.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:4] Your neck is like David's tower, built for thalpioth;
a thousand shields hang upon it, all the missiles of mighty men.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew talpiyyot is difficult; in courses is provisional, with armory another proposed sense. Greek leaves thalpioth untranslated and ends with missiles, not shields.
Verse 4:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:5] Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among the lilies.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:5] Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among lilies.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both explicitly name breasts here; this agreement does not erase the caresses–breasts differences elsewhere.
Verse 4:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:6] Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:6] Until the day breathes and the shadows move, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of Lebanon.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek has Lebanon where Hebrew has frankincense. The Greek spelling permits the geographical reading printed by the publisher; the Hebrew aromatic noun is not imported.
Verse 4:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:7] You are altogether beautiful, my companion, and there is no blemish in you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:7] You are altogether beautiful, my companion, and there is no blemish in you.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The praise agrees; its later theological application belongs to reception, not an added identification in the translation.
Verse 4:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:8] With me from Lebanon, bride, with me from Lebanon you shall come. Look down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from lions' dens, from leopards' mountains.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:8] Come from Lebanon, bride, come from Lebanon. You shall come and pass through from the beginning of faith, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from lions' enclosures, from leopards' mountains.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew Amana is a mountain name; Greek arche pisteos is the beginning of faith. Greek also changes the invitation and motion. Hebrew tashuri is provisionally look down; travel or descend is an alternative interpretation. Saints reception: Ambrose, On the Mysteries 7.39, applies the beginning-of-faith wording to the Church’s passage from temporal things to Christ. His reading illustrates reception of the Greek-shaped wording rather than evidence for Hebrew Amana. [AMB]
Verse 4:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:9] You have captured my heart, my sister, bride;
you have captured my heart with one of your eyes, with one ornament from your necklace.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:9] You have stirred our hearts, my sister, bride;
you have stirred our hearts with one of your eyes, with one ornament of your neck.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew me becomes Greek us. Both heart-derived verbs are unusual; captured and stirred are contextual renderings, not claims that the lexical nuance is settled. One eye is retained rather than changed to one glance.
Verse 4:10 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:10] How beautiful are your caresses, my sister, bride! How much better your caresses than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than all spices!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:10] How beautiful your breasts have become, my sister, bride! How much more beautiful your breasts than wine, and the fragrance of your garments than all spices!
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek again has breasts for caresses and garments for oils. The repeated comparison is retained.
Verse 4:11 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:11] Your lips drip honeycomb sweetness, bride;
honey and milk are beneath your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:11] Your lips drip honeycomb sweetness, bride;
honey and milk are beneath your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both columns retain the honey, milk and clothing imagery.
Verse 4:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:12] A locked garden is my sister, bride;
a locked spring, a sealed fountain.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:12] A locked garden is my sister, bride;
a locked garden, a sealed fountain.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's second noun is gal, here taken as a spring; Greek repeats garden. No emendation of the Hebrew noun to garden is made. Saints reception: Ambrose, On the Mysteries 9.55, applies the enclosed garden and sealed fountain to guarding sacramental mysteries through integrity of life and restraint of speech. [AMB]
Verse 4:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:13] Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:13] Your outgrowths are an orchard of pomegranates with tree fruits, henna with nard,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew shelahayikh and Greek apostolai both evoke what is sent out, rendered in the garden context as shoots or outgrowths. Greek akrodrya names tree fruits rather than the quality choice.
Verse 4:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:14] nard and saffron, aromatic reed and cinnamon, with every frankincense tree, myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:14] nard and saffron, aromatic reed and cinnamon, with all the trees of Lebanon, myrrh, aloth, with all the finest perfumes,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek names Lebanon rather than frankincense and retains the Hebrew-derived aloth untranslated. Hebrew aloes denotes aromatic wood, not a claim about the modern succulent.
Verse 4:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:15] A fountain of gardens, a well of living water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:15] a fountain of gardens, a well of living water rushing from Lebanon.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek uses rushing water where Hebrew has flowing streams. Living water is the literal expression for fresh or running water; no theological paraphrase is substituted.
Verse 4:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[4:16] Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow upon my garden;
let its spices flow. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[4:16] Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow through my garden, and let my spices flow. Let my kinsman come down into his garden and eat its tree fruits.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek has my spices and come down where Hebrew has its spices and come. The change from my garden to his garden remains in both.