Song of Solomon 4:10 (DBY)

Passage

How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine ointments than all spices!

Nearby Context

Song of Solomon 4:8 [Come] with me, from Lebanon, [my] spouse, With me from Lebanon, Come, look from the top of Amanah, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the mountains of the leopards.

Song of Solomon 4:9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.

Song of Solomon 4:10 How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine ointments than all spices!

Song of Solomon 4:11 Thy lips, [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

Song of Solomon 4:12 A garden enclosed is my sister, [my] spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "fair", "love", "sister", "spouse", "much", "better", and "than". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "fair" and "love", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "Thou hast ravished my heart my sister..." into verse 11's "Thy lips my spouse drop as the...", so "fair" and "love" belong inside that flow. In Song of Solomon context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "fair" and "love" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.