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Song of Songs 7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Song of Songs 7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 7
The Beauty of the Beloved
1 D? Turn, turn, O Shulammite![a]
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,[b]
O noble daughter!
Your curving thighs like jewels,
the product of skilled hands.
3 Your valley,[c] a round bowl
that should never lack mixed wine.
Your belly, a mound of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
4 (A)Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 (B)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.[d]
6 Your head rises upon you like Carmel;[e]
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,[f]
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,
10 And your mouth like the best wine—
Wthat flows down smoothly for my lover,
gliding[g] over my lips and teeth.
11 (C)I belong to my lover,[h]
his yearning is for me.
12 Come, my lover! Let us go out to the fields,
let us pass the night among the henna.
13 (D)Let us go early to the vineyards, and see
if the vines are in bloom,
If the buds have opened,
if the pomegranates have blossomed;
There will I give you my love.
14 The mandrakes[i] give forth fragrance,
and over our doors are all choice fruits;
Fruits both fresh and dried, my lover,
have I kept in store for you.
Footnotes
- 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.
- 7:10 Gliding: the beloved interrupts her partner’s compliment by referring to the intoxication of their union. The translation rests on an emendation of the enigmatic “the lips of the sleepers.”
- 7:11–14 The woman’s answer assures him of her love, and invites him to return with her to the rural delights associated with their love (cf. also 6:11–12). Yearning: used only here and in Gn 3:16; 4:7. The dependency and subordination of woman to man presented as a consequence of sin in the Genesis story is here transcended in the mutuality of true love.
- 7:14 Mandrakes: herbs believed to have power to arouse love and promote fertility; cf. Gn 30:14–16.
Song of Songs 7
New International Version
Song of Songs 7
New International Version
7 [a]How beautiful your sandaled feet,
O prince’s(A) daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
the work of an artist’s hands.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet
that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
encircled by lilies.
3 Your breasts(B) are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.(C)
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon(D)
by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon(E)
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.(F)
Your hair is like royal tapestry;
the king is held captive by its tresses.
6 How beautiful(G) you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!(H)
7 Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts(I) like clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,(J)
9 and your mouth like the best wine.
She
May the wine go straight to my beloved,(K)
flowing gently over lips and teeth.[b]
10 I belong to my beloved,
and his desire(L) is for me.(M)
11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
let us spend the night in the villages.[c]
12 Let us go early to the vineyards(N)
to see if the vines have budded,(O)
if their blossoms(P) have opened,
and if the pomegranates(Q) are in bloom(R)—
there I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes(S) send out their fragrance,
and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my beloved.(T)
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 7:1 In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14.
- Song of Songs 7:9 Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers
- Song of Songs 7:11 Or the henna bushes
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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