Song of Solomon 7

How beautiful your feet are in their sandals, daughter of a prince! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman's hands.

1How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

NoteIn this culture most ordinary people went barefoot or wore plain sandals; finely made sandals marked wealth and rank, which is why the compliment runs together with "daughter of a prince." The phrase need not mean she is literally royal: it is praise of her bearing.

2Your navel is like a round cup that never runs out of mixed wine. Your waist is like a mound of wheat with lilies set around it.

2Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Note"Mixed wine" was wine blended with water and spices, the way good wine was normally served at a feast; it was the choice drink, not a diluted one. The mound of wheat is the heap of threshed grain piled at harvest, sometimes ringed with flowers, so the image is of pale gold, plenty, and pleasing shape. The Hebrew word rendered "navel" usually means just that, though some take it as a discreet way of naming the lower body generally.

3Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins born to a gazelle.

3Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

NoteA gazelle is a small, slender wild antelope common in the region; its young were a byword for grace and softness.

4Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, beside the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon that looks out toward Damascus.

4Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

NoteIvory was an imported luxury, used as inlay on fine furniture and buildings rather than in solid blocks, the point is smooth, pale, costly. Heshbon was a city east of the Jordan, known for its water reservoirs; Bath-rabbim was one of its gates. The "tower of Lebanon" was a watchtower or fortress in the northern hills looking out toward Damascus, the chief city of Syria; the comparison is to a straight, commanding landmark, not to size.

5Your head rises above you like Mount Carmel, and the hair on your head is like purple cloth. The king is held captive by its flowing strands.

5Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

NoteMount Carmel is the high wooded ridge that juts into the Mediterranean on the northern coast, a landmark that rises abruptly above everything around it. Purple cloth was dyed with a costly dye extracted from sea snails and was worn by royalty and the very rich; the comparison is to the dark sheen and the expense, not to the literal color of her hair.

6How lovely you are, and how pleasant, my love, with all your delights!

6How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

7You stand tall like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of fruit.

7This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

NoteThe palm here is the date palm, tall and straight with a single unbranched trunk; the "clusters" are the heavy bunches of dates that hang beneath its crown.

8I said, I will climb that palm tree and take hold of its branches. May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine, and the smell of your breath like apples,

8I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "apples" names a sweet, fragrant fruit whose exact identity is uncertain; some take it as the apricot, since apples as we know them grew poorly in that climate. "The smell of your nose" in the King James is the older way of saying the scent of her breath.

9and your mouth like the finest wine. May that wine go down smoothly for the one I love, gliding over the lips of those who are sleeping.

9And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

NoteThe Hebrew of the last phrase is difficult and has been read two ways: as wine gliding over "the lips of sleepers," or, with a slightly different reading of the same consonants, as wine gliding over "lips and teeth." Ancient translations differ, and the ambiguity is in the original, not in the English. Many readers also take the second half of this verse as the woman breaking in and finishing the man's sentence, since she is clearly the speaker by verse 10.

10I belong to the one I love, and his desire is for me.

10I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

11Come, my love, let us go out into the open country. Let us spend the night in the villages.

11Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "villages" is spelled the same as the word for henna bushes, so the line can mean either spending the night in the country settlements or lying down among the flowering shrubs. Translators are divided.

12Let us get up early and go to the vineyards. Let us see whether the vine has budded, whether the young grapes have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.

12Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.

NoteThis is a spring outing: the vine budding and the pomegranate flowering both belong to the same short season, so the couple are going out to see the year's first growth. The pomegranate is a fruit with tough red skin and many juicy seeds inside, and its blossom is bright scarlet.

13The mandrakes give off their scent, and at our door are all kinds of choice fruits, new ones and old ones alike, which I have stored up for you, my love.

13The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

NoteThe mandrake is a low plant with a thick forked root and small yellow fruit that gives off a strong, sweet smell. In the ancient world it was widely believed to stir sexual desire and to help a woman conceive, the same belief lies behind the bargain over mandrakes in Genesis 30.