4:2

In this verse there is a visual contrast with 4:1. In 4:1 a flock of black goats are descending the mountains. In 4:2 there is a flock of white sheep that have just been washed. There are some interpretation issues in 4:2, but the main point is fairly clear: The man described the woman’s beautiful teeth. They were white, and none were missing. Her white teeth were striking in their contrast to her black hair.

This verse is repeated in almost identical form in 6:6a–b.

4:2a

Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep: In this clause the man praised the woman by comparing her teeth to a flock of newly shorn sheep. The comparison means that her teeth were white and smooth, like a group of sheep when their wool has just been cut off (shorn). (Sheep in Palestine were usually white.) The woman’s white teeth also imply that she was young, since teeth become more yellow as a person ages.

In some languages it is necessary to make this comparison more explicit. For example:

Your teeth are as white as sheep that have just been shorn and washed. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Your teeth are white like newly sheared sheep just coming from their bath. (New Century Version)

teeth…like a flock of newly shorn sheep: In this phrase the author focuses on all of the woman’s teeth together. They are like a group (flock) of sheep, not like only one sheep. In some languages the plural form of the word sheep already implies a group of sheep, so a word like flock may not be needed.

newly shorn sheep: Scholars disagree about whether the phrase shorn sheep implies that the sheep had already been shorn or were about to be shorn:

(1) The sheep were already shorn. For example:

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn… (New International Version)

(2) The sheep were not yet shorn. For example:

a flock of sheep to be shorn… (New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This seems to be the most likely interpretation and most versions follow it.

4:2b

coming up from the washing: The phrase coming up from the washing modifies the phrase “flock of newly shorn sheep” in 4:2a. After the wool was cut off the sheep (they were “shorn”), the sheep were washed, possibly in a stream. Then the sheep were clean and white. The woman’s teeth also looked clean and white like those freshly washed sheep.

The point of the simile in 4:2a–b is that the woman’s teeth were very white, which implies that they looked beautiful to the man. Here is another way to make this meaning clear:

Your teeth are as white as sheep, recently shorn and freshly washed. (New Living Translation (2004))

4:2c–d

each has its twin, and not one of them is lost: The phrase each has its twin, and not one of them is lost is closely connected to the simile in 4:2a–b. However, it is a different simile, which compares the woman’s teeth to twin lambs.

The phrase each has its refers to the ewes in 4:2a–b. Here in 4:2c–d the author indicates that each tooth on one side of the woman’s mouth had a tooth just like it (a twin) on the other side. None of the teeth has lost its matching tooth on the other side. In the author’s lifetime it was probably unusual for an adult to have a complete set of teeth like that. Another way to translate this meaning is:

they match perfectly, not one is missing. (Contemporary English Version)

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