Song of Songs 6:4-7:9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
The Beauty of the Woman
4 M Beautiful as Tirzah are you, my friend;[a]
fair as Jerusalem,
fearsome as celestial visions!
5 (A)Turn your eyes away from me,
for they stir me up.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down from Gilead.
6 (B)Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that come up from the washing,
All of them big with twins,
none of them barren.
7 Like pomegranate halves,
your cheeks behind your veil.
8 Sixty are the queens, eighty the concubines,
and young women without number—
9 One alone[b] is my dove, my perfect one,
her mother’s special one,
favorite of the one who bore her.
Daughters see her and call her happy,
queens and concubines, and they praise her:
10 (C)“Who[c] is this that comes forth like the dawn,
beautiful as the white moon, pure as the blazing sun,
fearsome as celestial visions?”
Love’s Meeting
11 W(D) To the walnut grove[d] I went down,
to see the young growth of the valley;
To see if the vines were in bloom,
if the pomegranates had blossomed.
12 Before I knew it, my desire had made me
the blessed one of the prince’s people.[e]
Chapter 7
The Beauty of the Beloved
1 D? Turn, turn, O Shulammite![f]
turn, turn that we may gaze upon you!
W How can you gaze upon the Shulammite
as at the dance of the two camps?
2 M How beautiful are your feet in sandals,[g]
O noble daughter!
Your curving thighs like jewels,
the product of skilled hands.
3 Your valley,[h] a round bowl
that should never lack mixed wine.
Your belly, a mound of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
4 (E)Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 (F)Your neck like a tower of ivory;
your eyes, pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose like the tower of Lebanon
that looks toward Damascus.[i]
6 Your head rises upon you like Carmel;[j]
your hair is like purple;
a king is caught in its locks.
Love’s Desires
7 How beautiful you are, how fair,
my love, daughter of delights!
8 Your very form resembles a date-palm,[k]
and your breasts, clusters.
9 I thought, “Let me climb the date-palm!
Let me take hold of its branches!
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine
and the fragrance of your breath like apples,
Footnotes
- 6:4–9 The man again celebrates the woman’s beauty. Tirzah: probably meaning “pleasant”; it was the early capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (1 Kgs 16). Celestial visions: the meaning is uncertain. Military images may be implied here, i.e., the “heavenly hosts” who fight along with God on Israel’s behalf (cf. Jgs 5:20), or perhaps a reference to the awesome goddesses of the region who combined aspects of both fertility and war.
- 6:9 One alone: the incomparability of the woman is a favorite motif in love poetry.
- 6:10 “Who…”: the speakers may be the women of vv. 8–9. Moon…sun: lit., “the white” and “the hot,” respectively (cf. Is 24:23; 30:26). Fearsome: see note on 6:4–9.
- 6:11 Walnut grove: also a site of activity in a wedding hymn of the Syrian moon goddess Nikkal (cf. the woman compared to the moon in v. 10).
- 6:12 The text is obscure in Hebrew and in the ancient versions. The Vulgate reads: “I did not know; my soul disturbed me because of the chariots of Aminadab.” Based on a parallel in Jgs 5:24, “chariots” is here emended to “blessed one.”
- 7:1 Shulammite: the woman is so designated because she is considered to be from Shulam (or Shunem) in the plain of Esdraelon (cf. 1 Kgs 1:3), or because the name may mean “the peaceful one,” and thus recall the name of Solomon. Turn: she is asked to face the speaker(s). How…: she refuses to be regarded as a spectacle (“the dance of the two camps” is unknown). Some interpret the episode as an invitation to her to dance.
- 7:2–6 Another description of the woman’s charms. Sandals: the woman’s sandaled foot was apparently considered quite seductive (Jdt 16:9). Noble: a possible connection to the enigmatic “prince” of 6:12. Curving…jewels: the meaning of these Hebrew words is not certain. Wine and wheat suggest fertility.
- 7:3 Valley: lit., navel; a discreet allusion to her sex.
- 7:5 The comparison emphasizes the stateliness of her neck, and the clarity of her eyes. Bath-rabbim: a proper name which occurs only here; there was a city of Rabbah northeast of Heshbon in Transjordan. Cf. Jer 49:3.
- 7:6 Carmel: a prominent set of cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean.
- 7:8–9 Date-palm: a figure of stateliness. The lover is eager to enjoy the possession of his beloved.
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