Canticles 4:1
How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which Come up from mount Galaad.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Sponsus Quam pulchra es, amica mea ! quam pulchra es ! Oculi tui columbarum, absque eo quod intrinsecus latet. Capilli tui sicut greges caprarum quæ ascenderunt de monte Galaad.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ἰδοὺ εἶ καλὴ πλησίον μου, ἰδοὺ εἶ καλή. ὀφθαλμοί σου περιστεραὶ ἐκτὸς τῆς σιωπήσεώς σου. τρίχωμά σου ὡς ἀγέλαι τῶν αἰγῶν αἳ ἀπεκαλύφθησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Γαλαάδ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- הִנָּ֨ךְ יָפָ֤ה רַעְיָתִי֙ הִנָּ֣ךְ יָפָ֔ה עֵינַ֣יִךְ יוֹנִ֔ים מִבַּ֖עַד לְצַמָּתֵ֑ךְ שַׂעְרֵךְ֙ כְּעֵ֣דֶר הָֽעִזִּ֔ים שֶׁגָּלְשׁ֖וּ מֵהַ֥ר גִּלְעָֽד
Haydock's commentary
How. Christ again praises the beauty of his Church. (Worthington)
The dialogue takes place in the country. (Haydock)
From corporal beauty, which is often dangerous, and the portion of the most dissolute, we must raise our minds to spiritual advantages, which the Holy Ghost has here in view.
Within. St. Ambrose, "besides thy taciturnity." Septuagint, "silence." Rabbins, &c., "hair." Protestants, "within thy locks." But what renders this version of tsammathec (Haydock) suspicious is, that none of the ancients knew of it, and the hair is afterwards specified, chap. vi. 4. Moreover, Isaias, (xlvii. 2.) uses it for (Calmet) "turpitude," (St. Jerome) or the parts which are usually "covered." (Septuagint) (Haydock)
Si qua latent, meliora putat. ([Ovid?] Met. 1500.)
All the glory of the king's daughter is within, Psalm xliv. 14. Modesty and silence are the best encomium. (Calmet)
The Lord praises the intention, occupations and doctrine of the Church, the twins of faith and good works; the preaching of Christ's passion without shame, (ver. 3.) and the administration of the sacraments, which, like the neck, unite the members to their head; so that they become invincible, (ver. 4.) whether they be of Jewish or Gentile extraction, ver. 5. (Worthington)
Up. Hebrew and Septuagint, "appear." Jerusalem was the highest part of the country; (Haydock) and coming up and down often means no more than coming or going, Judges xi. 3., and xv. 11. (Calmet)
The hair of goats in Lycia was beautifully curled. (Ælian xvi. 30.)
Read on
Women used such false hair. (Martial xii. 45.)
Though the hair be only an ornament, it is not to be neglected; so the pious Christian will always treat with respect the ceremonies established chiefly for the instruction of the ignorant. (Calmet)
Those simple and fervent souls, by their numbers, adorn the Church, as hair does the body. (St. Gregory)
The external and internal perfections of the spouse deserve commendation. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Chapter XIX
66. Rarely, therefore, and in a case of great necessity, are rebukes to be administered; yet in such a way that even in these very rebukes we may make it our earnest endeavour, not that we, but that God, should be served. For He, and none else, is the end: so that we are to do nothing with a double heart, removing from our own eye the beam of envy, or malice, or pretence, in order that we may see to cast the mote out of a brother’s eye. For we shall see it with the dove’s eyes, such eyes as are declared to belong to the spouse of Christ, whom God hath chosen for Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, i.e. pure and guileless.
St Cyril of Jerusalem On Baptism
16. Be of good courage, O Jerusalem; the Lord will take away all thine iniquities . The Lord will wash away the filth of His sons and of His daughters by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning . He will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your sin . Angels shall dance around you, and say, Who is this that cometh up in white array, leaning upon her beloved? For the soul that was formerly a slave has now adopted her Master Himself as her kinsman: and He accepting the unfeigned purpose will answer: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair: thy teeth are like flocks of sheep new shorn, (because of the confession of a good conscience: and further) which have all of them twins ; because of the twofold grace, I mean that which is perfected of water and of the Spirit, or that which is announced by the Old and by the New Testament. …
St Ambrose On the Mysteries, Chapter VII. The washing away of sins is indicated by the white robes of the catechumens, whence the Church speaks of herself as black and comely. Angels marvel at her brightness as at that of the flesh of the Lord. Moreover, Christ Himself commended His beauty to His Spouse under many figures. The mutual affection of the one for the other is described
37. But Christ, beholding His Church, for whom He Himself, as you find in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had put on filthy garments, now clothed in white raiment, seeing, that is, a soul pure and washed in the laver of regeneration, says: “Behold, thou art fair, My love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are like a dove’s,” in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. The eyes are beautiful like those of a dove, because in the likeness of a dove the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.