Song of Songs 7

¹D? Turn, turn, O 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. : she is asked to face the speaker(s). : 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.]

turn, turn that we may gaze upon you!

W How can you gaze upon the Shulammite

as at the dance of the two camps?

²M How beautiful are your feet in sandals,[#Another description of the woman’s charms. : the woman’s sandaled foot was apparently considered quite seductive (Jdt 16:9). : a possible connection to the enigmatic “prince” of 6:12. : the meaning of these Hebrew words is not certain. Wine and wheat suggest fertility.]

O noble daughter!

Your curving thighs like jewels,

the product of skilled hands.

³Your valley, a round bowl[#: lit., navel; a discreet allusion to her sex.]

that should never lack mixed wine.

Your belly, a mound of wheat,

encircled with lilies.

⁴Your breasts are like two fawns,[#Sg 4:5.]

twins of a gazelle.

⁵Your neck like a tower of ivory;[#Sg 4:4.]

your eyes, pools in Heshbon

by the gate of Bath-rabbim.

Your nose like the tower of Lebanon

that looks toward Damascus.

⁶Your head rises upon you like Carmel;[#: a prominent set of cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean.]

your hair is like purple;

a king is caught in its locks.

⁷How beautiful you are, how fair,

my love, daughter of delights!

⁸Your very form resembles a date-palm,[#: a figure of stateliness. The lover is eager to enjoy the possession of his beloved.]

and your breasts, clusters.

⁹I 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,

¹⁰And your mouth like the best wine—

W that flows down smoothly for my lover,

gliding over my lips and teeth.

¹¹I belong to my lover,[#Sg 2:16; 6:3.; #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). : 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.]

his yearning is for me.

¹²Come, my lover! Let us go out to the fields,

let us pass the night among the henna.

¹³Let us go early to the vineyards, and see[#Sg 6:11.]

if the vines are in bloom,

If the buds have opened,

if the pomegranates have blossomed;

There will I give you my love.

¹⁴The mandrakes give forth fragrance,[#: herbs believed to have power to arouse love and promote fertility; cf. Gn 30:14–16.]

and over our doors are all choice fruits;

Fruits both fresh and dried, my lover,

have I kept in store for you.