Song of Solomon 4:3

Son 4:3 Thy lips [are] like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech [is] comely: thy temples [are] like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

Ver. 3. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.] Which hath two comely properties, small and ruddy. A thin lip is a sign of eloquence; {Job 12:20} Pitho sits upon it. As, on the other side, a thick lip is an uncircumcised lip, {Exo 6:12} a polluted lip. {Isa 6:5} Scarlet or coralline lips are counted a great grace, as white, black, bluish lips are held no small deformity. The Church’s lips are her Christian confessions, whether to God or men. To God, when she acknowledgeth his favours (and so covereth his altar with the calves of her lips), or confesseth her sins with all the aggravations, bringing them forth as they did the vessels of the sanctuary, {Ezr 8:34} by tale and by weight, bewailing and begging pardon for all their transgressions in all their sins, as the words are. {Lev 16:21} To man she confesseth when she makes a wise and bold profession of the truth; not "afraid with any amazement," {1Pe 3:6} but ready to "resist even unto blood." {Heb 12:4} The tabernacle was covered over with red (and the scarlet whore would fain persuade us that she takes up that colour for the same intent), to note that we must stand to the profession of the truth, even to effusion of blood. This confession of the mouth {Rom 10:10} is set forth here by lips red as scarlet, because it must be lively, not fady or frigid, but full of faith, and dyed in Christ’s blood. It is also described by a thread of scarlet, because, as a thread, it must be drawn out to the full length, and not cut off, so long as life lasteth, for any fear or other by respect whatsoever. Surely, as Augustine said of the feast of Pentecost, Gaudet produci haec solennitas; so may we say of Christian confession, It rejoiceth to be held out to the last breath. And as the silk worm stretcheth forth herself before she spin, and ends her life in her long wrought clue, so it is with the faithful confessor.

And thy speech is comely.] Because grave and gracious, framed in Scripture phrase as much as may be, and therefore comely and delectable. Loquamur verba Scripturae, utamur sermone Spiritus Sancti, &c., said that incomparable man Peter Ramus; Let us speak the very words of Scripture, let us make use of the language of the Holy Ghost, and for ever abominate those logodaedali, learned asses, that profanely disdain at the stately plainness of God’s blessed book, and that think to correct the divine wisdom and eloquence with their own infancy and sophistry. It is the Church only that speaks handsomely, because holily, and as the oracles of God. {1Pe 4:11} She is, as one well saith of Basil, suaviter gravis, et graviter suavis, nihil habens affectatae loquacitatis, sweetly grave, and gravely sweet, neither troublesomely talkative nor sinfully silent; verborum parca, sententiarum dives, as another {a} saith of Livy, few words, but full of matter.

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate.] A pomegranate hath many grains within his case, and a little round circle or crown without upon his head. Now these grains being sweet in taste, and red in colour, are orderly set one by another, and point up, and as it were look up altogether unto the crown; to intimate thus much, say Beda and Haimo, that the children of the Church must grow on still toward the mark, not only when they enjoy the sweet taste of pleasant prosperity, but also when they bear the red colour of bloody persecution; and, consenting in a kind of conformity and perfect peace, they must point up altogether with the finger of faith to Christ, and look up continually with the eye of love to their head, Christ, who, being first crossed, is now come to be crowned with honour and glory. Some do explain this "piece of a pomegranate," when it is cut, to signify the reverend and modest countenance of tbe Church, as fearing and taking heed lest she should speak or do amiss, or blushing, if she hath failed. Others expound it of the good works of God’s people - compared to an "orchard of pomegranates" {Son 4:9} - beautiful and comely, but yet imperfect; like as there is no pomegranate that hath not one rotten grain in it.

{a} Casaub.

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.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely; thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. Scarlet; that is, shining, glistening red colour. Thy mouth ( Thy mouth as speaking. So the LXX, Jerome, and Venetian, "thy speech," eloquium, conversation. But this is questioned, as it should then be The word midhbar undoubtedly means "the mouth," from davar, "to speak," with the m preformative, as the name of the instrument. It is the preterite for but perhaps as referring specially to speech. Thy temples; Latin tempora, from the adjective qr, "weak," meaning the thin, piece of skull on each side of the eyes, like the German schlafe, from schlaff, "slack." The inside of the pomegranate is of a red colour mixed and tempered with the ruby colour. Ginsburg, however, thinks that the cheeks are intended, and that the comparison is with the outside of the pomegranate, in which the vermilion colour is mingled with brown, and resembles the round cheek; but then why say, piece of a pomegranate"? tlp, from the root "to cut fruit", (see 1Ki_4:3-9) certainly must refer to the cut fruit and the appearance of the inside. The meaning may be a segment, that is, so as to represent the roundness of the cheek. Possibly the reference may be to blushes on the bride"s cheek, or to ornaments which appeared through the veil. We can scarcely expect to make out every particular in an Eastern description.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:3 Pomegranates have a rosy appearance and are one of the lushest Middle Eastern fruits.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet] Both lips and cheeks were ruddy; sicut fragmen mali punici. - VULGATE. Like the section of a pomegranate, that side cut off on which is the finest blush. This is a good and apt metaphor. But the inside may be referred to, as it is finely streaked with red and white melting into each other. She had beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful cheeks and lips, and a most pleasing and dulcet voice.

Within thy locks.] See on So 4:1, and on So 4:7.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) Speech.—Rather, mouth, as the parallelism shows.

Thy temples . . .—Rather, like a piece of pomegranate thy cheeks behind thy veil. (See Note to Son_4:1.) “The pomegranate brings to my mind the blushes of my beloved, when her cheeks are covered with a modest resentment” (Persian Ode, quoted by Ginsburg from Sir Wm. Jones). For the pomegranate see Exo_28:34. It naturally supplied to the Eastern poet the image for which the Western poet goes to the apple. “Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded” (Spenser).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. like a thread of scarlet] i.e. she has thin red lips. The word for ‘red’ here is shânî=‘cochineal.’ In Arabic its name is qirmiz, hence our word ‘crimson.’

thy speech] thy mouth. The word used here, midhbâr, is an unusual one in this sense.

thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks] Better, thy cheeks are like the rift of a pomegranate behind thy veil. Properly raqqâh means the thin part of the skull, from râqaq=‘to be thin,’ i.e. the temple; but, as in other languages, both cheeks and temple may be included in the one term. The meaning here is either that the temples strictly so called gleam through the slit of the veil, as the mingled white and red of the inside of a pomegranate gleam through the cracks of the rind, or if pelach means ‘a piece,’ the comparison is of the cheeks to the rounded form and ruddy colour of a section of this fruit.

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.

Thy speech is comely - Perhaps, “thy mouth,” i. e., the organ of speech.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Scarlet. Preachers of the gospel (St. Gregory) must speak with elegance, and have their lips dyed with the blood of Christ, and purified with coals from the altar. (Calmet) --- So, if we may use the words of a living critic, who is sometimes accurate, "a commentator ought to study at the foot of his crucifix, and write with ink drawn from the heart of Jesus." (Haydock) --- Pomegranate. Plump and ruddy, representing the purity of the Church, and of virgins, who are its "flower," (St. Cyprian) and bring forth fruits of good works. (St. Augustine, de Virg.)

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).

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; fine, and smooth, and soft, and round, and red, in which the beauty of the lips consisteth. Thy speech is comely; which is added, partly as another ingredient of an amiable person, and partly to explain the foregoing metaphor. The communication or discourse of believers is edifying, and comfortable, and acceptable to God and to serious men. Compare Psa 45:2; Col 4:6. Thy temples; under which doubtless he comprehends the cheeks, which are joined to them, and in which a great part of beauty lies, which therefore would not have been omitted in this description.

Like a piece of a pomegranate; in which there is a lovely mixture of red and white. This may note both the church’s beauty and her modesty, which showeth itself by blushes in those parts when she hath fallen into any sin, as the highest believers in this world sometimes do.

Within thy locks; a further evidence both of beauty and modesty. See on Son 4:1.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Thread — Better, braid. As literal features are here named, speech might better be mouth.

Thy temples — Hebrew, Thy cheeks. The pomegranate has one side of rich red blushing through its clear brown. Such are the cheeks of this rustic damsel, within her veil, or visible just below its border.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thy speech - Which is added as another ingredient of an amiable person; and to explain the foregoing metaphor. The discourse of believers is edifying and comfortable, and acceptable to God, and to serious men. Temples - Under which he comprehends the cheeks. Pomegranate - In which there is a lovely mixture of red and white.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

The man continues to praise the woman.

are like a thread of scarlet

Scarlet is a beautiful red color, and scarlet thread was very expensive. The woman's lips were red. AT: "are a deep red like scarlet thread" or "are red and very beautiful" (See: Simile)

scarlet

a dark red color that is very similar to the color of blood

is lovely

"is beautiful"

are like pomegranate halves

Pomegranates are smooth, round, and rich red. The man thinks the woman's cheeks are beautiful and show that she is healthy. AT: "are red and round like two halves of a pomegranate" or "are red and full and healthy" (See: Simile)

behind your veil

See how you translated this in Song of Songs 4:1.

translationWords

pomegranate

veil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread beautiful to promise and to keep their promise, as the Spies did to Rahab the harlot, i.e., they said to her, (Josh. 2:18): “you shall bind this line of scarlet thread, etc.,” and they kept their promise.

and your speech Heb. וּמִדְבָּרֵךְ your speech, and this is of the structure of (Ezek. 33:30): “who talk (הַנִדְבָּרִים) about you beside the walls”; (Mal. 3:16): “Then the God-fearing men spoke (נִדְבְּרוּ),” parlediz in Old French; words, speech, talk.

your temple Heb. רַקָתֵךְ. This is the highest part of the face, called pomels or pomials, cheek-bones, [some editions read: tenples or tanples, temples] next to the eyes. And in the language of the Talmud, it is called “the pomegranate of the face,” and it resembles the split half of a pomegranate from the outside, which is red and round. This is a praise in terms of a woman’s beauty, and our Sages explained the allegory to mean: even your worthless ones (רֵיקָנִים, lit. empty ones) are full of mitzvoth as a pomegranate.

from within your kerchief Heb. מִבַּעַד לְצַמָתֵך, from within your kerchief.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.