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Song of Solomon 7

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The Beloved Praises the Shulamite’s Beauty (The Wasf) 1–5

1
How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter! Thy rounded thighs are like jewels, The work of the hands of a skilful workman. ​
2
Thy body islikea round goblet, Wherein no mingled wine is wanting: Thy waist is like a heap of wheat Set about with lilies. ​
3
Thy two breasts are like two fawns That are twins of a roe.
4
Thy neck is like the tower of ivory; Thine eyes as the pools in Heshbon, By the gate of Bath-rabbim; Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon Which looketh toward Damascus. ​
5
Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, And the hair of thy head like purple; The king is held captive in the tresses thereof. ​

A Summation of Her Desirability 6–9

6
How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! ​
7
This thy stature is like to a palm-tree, And thy breasts to its clusters. ​
8
I said, I will climb up into the palm-tree, I will take hold of the branches thereof: Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, And the smell of thy breath like apples,
9
And thy mouth like the best wine, That goeth down smoothly for my beloved, Gliding through the lips of those that are asleep. ​

An Invitation to Intimacy in the Fields 10–13

10
I am my beloved’s; And his desire is toward me. ​
11
Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; Let us lodge in the villages. ​
12
Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine hath budded, Andits blossom is open, Andthe pomegranates are in flower: There will I give thee my love. ​
13
The mandrakes give forth fragrance; And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Song of Solomon 7

Verse 1

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes — The praise runs upward from the feet to the head (vv.1–5), the reverse of 4:1–5, which moved down from the eyes. 'Shoes' are sandals (na'al); 'prince's daughter' renders nadiyb, a noble or willing one. 'Joints' (chammuq) and 'cunning workman' (aman) occur nowhere else.

Verse 2

thy navel is like a round goblet — 'Navel' (shorer) occurs only here. The goblet 'wanteth not liquor' (mezeg, wine mixed with water); 'wanteth' is chaser, the verb of 'I shall not want' (Ps 23:1). The wheat 'set about with lilies' joins harvest to the lilies among which the beloved 'feedeth' (2:16; 6:3).

Verse 4

the fishpools in Heshbon — Heshbon was 'the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites' (Num 21:26) and is named in the oracle on Moab (Isa 15:4). 'Fishpools' translates berekah, a reservoir (the 'upper pool' of Isa 7:3); Bathrabbim occurs only here. The neck is a 'tower' again, as in 4:4, 'like the tower of David'.

Verse 5

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel — Carmel is the mountain whose 'excellency' is promised to the wilderness in Isa 35:2. Purple (argaman) was royal dress, as with 'the kings of Midian' (Judg 8:26). 'Held' is asar, 'bound' (Gen 42:24); 'galleries' is rahat, a channel or trough (Gen 30:38), also a flowing ringlet.

Verse 6

How fair and how pleasant art thou — 'Fair' is yaphah, the verb of 'beautiful' in v.1. 'Pleasant' (na'em) is David's word for Jonathan, 'very pleasant hast thou been unto me' (2 Sam 1:26). 'Delights' (ta'anug) is found nowhere else in the Song; Eccl 2:8 uses it of 'the delights of the sons of men'.

Verse 7

like to a palm tree — Tamar, the date palm: 'The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree' (Ps 92:12); Israel found 'threescore and ten palm trees' at Elim (Ex 15:27). 'Clusters' is eshkol, the word for the single cluster cut at 'the brook of Eshcol' (Num 13:23), which two men carried on a staff.

Verse 9

the roof of thy mouth like the best wine — The 'roof' is the palate (chek), the same word as 'His mouth is most sweet' (5:16). 'Sweetly' is meyshar, straightness: 'aright' of wine in Prov 23:31 and 'the upright love thee' in 1:4. 'To speak' (dabab), to glide, occurs only here.

Verse 10

I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me — The words recast 2:16, 'My beloved is mine, and I am his', and 6:3. Teshuqah, 'desire', occurs only three times: Gen 3:16, 4:7 and here. In Gen 3:16 it is the woman's 'desire… to thy husband'; here it is his, directed to her.

Verse 11

let us go forth into the field — The invitation is hers, and it echoes his call in 2:13, 'Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away'. 'Villages' is kaphar, which elsewhere occurs only at 1 Chr 27:25. 'Lodge' is lun, to stay the night; the plan is a night away from the city.

Verse 12

the tender grape appear — Semadar, the vine blossom, occurs only at 2:13, 2:15 and here; the vineyard is the setting again, as in 6:11, 'to see whether the vine flourished'. 'My loves' is dodim, the word of 'thy love is better than wine' (1:2) and of 'thy time was the time of love' (Ezek 16:8).

Verse 13

The mandrakes give a smell — Dudaim, as 'mandrakes', occurs only here and in Gen 30:14–16, where Reuben 'found mandrakes in the field' and Rachel bargained for them. 'Pleasant fruits' is meged, the 'precious fruits' of Joseph's blessing (Deut 33:14) and of 4:13, 16. 'Laid up' is tsaphan, 'hid' (Ps 119:11).