Song of Solomon 4:14

Christian Standard Bible ®

nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,with all the trees of frankincense,myrrh and aloes,with all the best spices.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; Myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

King James Version
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

English Standard Version
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices—

New American Standard Bible
Nard and saffron, spice reed and cinnamon, With all the trees of frankincense, Myrrh, and aloes, along with all the finest balsam oils.

New Century Version
nard and saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, with trees of incense, myrrh, and aloes— all the best spices.

Amplified Bible
Fragrant plants and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

World English Bible
Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; Myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Euen spikenarde, and saffran, calamus, and cynamon with all the trees of incense, myrrhe and aloes, with all the chiefe spices.

Legacy Standard Bible
Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,With all the trees of frankincense,Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

Berean Standard Bible
with nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.

Contemporary English Version
saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, and aloes —all the finest spices.

Complete Jewish Bible
nard, saffron and aromatic cane, cinnamon and all kinds of frankincense trees, myrrh, aloes, all the best spices.

Darby Translation
Spikenard and saffron; Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

Easy-to-Read Version
nard, saffron, calamus, and cinnamon. Your limbs are like a garden filled with trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloe.

George Lamsa Translation
Spikenard and saffron; sweet cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices;

Good News Translation
of saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, or incense of every kind. Myrrh and aloes grow there with all the most fragrant perfumes.

Lexham English Bible
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon spice with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes with all chief spices.

Literal Translation
spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes; with all the chief balsam spices;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
as Cypresse, Nardus, Saffron, Calmus, and all the trees of Libanus: Myrre, Aloes, and all the best spyces.

American Standard Version
Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

Bible in Basic English
Spikenard and safron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

King James Version (1611)
Spikenard and Saffron, Calamus and Cynamom, with all trees of Frankincense, Mirrhe and Aloes, with all the chiefe spices.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Nardus, & Saffron, Calamus, Sinamom, with all sweete smellyng trees, Myrre, Aloes, and all the best spyces,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon; with all woods of Libanus, myrrh, aloes, with all chief spices:

English Revised Version
Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
narde, and saffrun, an erbe clepid fistula, and canel, with alle trees of the Liban, myrre, and aloes, with alle the beste oynementis.

Update Bible Version
Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

Webster's Bible Translation
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

New English Translation
nard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon with every kind of spice, myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices.

New King James Version
Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices--

New Living Translation
nard and saffron, fragrant calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, and every other lovely spice.

New Life Bible
There is nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices.

New Revised Standard
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices—

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Nard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all woods of frankincense, - myrrh and aloes, with all the chiefs of spices:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes.

Revised Standard Version
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices--

Young's Literal Translation
Cypresses with nard -- nard and saffron, Cane and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, With all the trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

Contextual Overview

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;come with me from Lebanon!Descend from the peak of Amana,from the summit of Senir and Hermon,from the dens of the lions,from the mountains of the leopards. ⁹You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride.You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,with one jewel of your necklace. ¹⁰How delightful your caresses are, my sister, my bride.Your caresses are much better than wine,and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam. ¹¹Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.Honey and milk are under your tongue.The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. ¹²My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden—a locked garden and a sealed spring. ¹³Your branches are a paradise of pomegranateswith choicest fruits;henna with nard, ¹⁴nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,with all the trees of frankincense,myrrh and aloes,with all the best spices.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

calamus: Exodus 30:23, Ezekiel 27:19

cinnamon: Proverbs 7:17, Revelation 18:13

trees: Song of Solomon 4:6, Song of Solomon 5:1, Numbers 24:6

the chief: Song of Solomon 6:2, Genesis 43:11, 1 Kings 10:10, 2 Chronicles 9:9, Mark 16:1

Reciprocal: Psalms 45:8 - All Song of Solomon 1:13 - bundle Song of Solomon 1:14 - camphire Song of Solomon 4:13 - camphire Song of Solomon 4:16 - the spices Song of Solomon 5:5 - my hands Mark 14:3 - of ointment John 12:3 - ointment John 19:39 - a

Cross-References

Genesis 4:5
but he did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.

Genesis 4:6
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?

Genesis 4:11
So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.

Genesis 4:12
If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Genesis 4:13
But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear!

Genesis 4:14
Since you are banishing me today from the face of the earth, and I must hide from your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

Genesis 4:15
Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And he placed a mark on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.

Genesis 4:16
Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:20
Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of the nomadic herdsmen.

Genesis 4:24
If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Spikenard and saffron,.... The former is the best sort of nard, and therefore mentioned and repeated, to which saints may be compared, because of the graces of the Spirit in them; which, when exercised, give a sweet odour, and are exceeding grateful to Christ; see Song of Solomon 1:12; and the latter, according to Schindler s, seems to have been read "carcos", the same with "crocus", and is a plant well known by us for its cheering nature; and has its name from the Arabic, "zaffran", because of its yellow or golden colour; but "crocus", from "Corycus" t, a mountain in Cilicia, where it grew; it is properly joined with spikenard, since itself is a "spica", and is sometimes called "spica Cilissa" u. Next follow

calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; "calamus" is the sweet cane in Isaiah 43:24; "cinnamon" is the rind or bark of a tree; both grow in India w and in Arabia x; as also trees of "frankincense", which are only in Arabia; hence one of the Arabias is called "thurifera" y, for they do not grow in all Arabia: the two first were ingredients in the holy anointing oil, and the latter in the holy perfume, Exodus 30:23;

myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices; Solomon's gardens might be furnished with all these; and with the above trees, plants, and spices, from Arabia Felix, where, as Appianus z says, "cassia" grew in marshy places; myrrh and frankincense were gathered from trees, cinnamon from shrubs, and their meadows naturally produced nard; hence called "aromatifera", the spicy country a: myrrh was also an ingredient in the anointing oil; and aloes, according to the Targum, is the same with lign aloes; see Numbers 24:6; not the herb which has a very bitter juice, but the tree of a sweet odour, which Isidore b distinguishes, and is what is meant in Psalms 45:8; and were both of a very fragrant smell. Now all these trees, plants, and spices, signify truly precious souls, possessed of the graces of the Spirit; comparable to them for their valuableness and excellency, their sweet smell, and the reviving and refreshing nature of them; which make the subjects of these graces very agreeable to Christ, and to one another. What a garden is the church thus planted!

s Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 910. t "Corycii pressura croci", Lucan. Pharsal. l. 9. v. 809. u Ovid. Fast. l. 1. v. 76. in Ibin, v. 200. Propert. l. 4. Eleg. 6. v. 74. w Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 19, 22. Strabo, l. 15. p. 478. x Herodot. Thalia, c. 107. "Cinnamoni et multi pastor odoris Araba", Propert. l. 3. Eleg. 13. v. 8, 9. y Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14. z Apud Schindler. Lexic. col. 1192. a Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 538. Vid. p. 535. b Origin. l. 17. c. 8, 9.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The loveliness and purity of the bride are now set forth under the image of a paradise or garden fast barred against intruders, filled with rarest plants of excellent fragrance, and watered by abundant streams. Compare Proverbs 5:15-20.

Song of Solomon 4:12

A fountain sealed - i. e., A well-spring covered with a stone Genesis 29:3, and sealed with “the king’s own signet” (Daniel 6:17; compare Matthew 27:66).

Song of Solomon 4:13

Orchard - This is the renderlng here and in Ecclesiastes 2:5 of “pardes” (see Nehemiah 2:8 note). The pomegranate was for the Jews a sacred fruit, and a characteristic product of the land of promise (compare Exodus 28:33-34; Numbers 20:5; Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Kings 7:18, 1 Kings 7:20). It is frequently mentioned in the Song, and always in connection with the bride. It abounds to this day in the ravines of the Lebanon.

Camphire - Cyprus. See Song of Solomon 1:14 note.

Song of Solomon 4:13-15

Seven kinds of spices (some of them with Indian names, e. g. aloes, spikenard, saffron) are enumerated as found in this symbolic garden. They are for the most part pure exotics which have formed for countless ages articles of commerce in the East, and were brought at that time in Solomon’s ships from southern Arabia, the great Indian Peninsula, and perhaps the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The picture here is best regarded as a purely ideal one, having no corresponding reality but in the bride herself. The beauties and attractions of both north and south - of Lebanon with its streams of sparkling water and fresh mountain air, of Engedi with its tropical climate and henna plantations, of the spice-groves of Arabia Felix, and of the rarest products of the distant mysterious Ophir - all combine to furnish one glorious representation, “Thou art all fair!”