Chapter 7
How Beautiful You Are and How Charming[a]
Companions:
1 [b]Come back, come back, O Shulammite;[c]
come back so that we may gaze upon you.
Bridegroom:
Why are you looking at the Shulammite
as at a dance of Mahanaim?
Companions:
2 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O prince’s daughter.
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the handiwork of a master hand.
3 Your navel is a well-rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat[d]
surrounded by lilies.
4 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
5 Your neck is like an ivory tower;
your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon[e]
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon
that faces toward Damascus.
6 Your head is held high like Carmel;[f]
your flowing locks are as dark as purple,
and a king is held captive in your tresses.
Bridegroom:
7 How beautiful you are and how charming,
my beloved, my delight.
8 You are as stately as a palm tree,[g]
and your breasts are like clusters of fruit.
9 [h]I have decided to climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.
May your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
the scent of your breath as sweet as apples,
10 and your mouth like fragrant wine.
Come, My Beloved, I Will Give You My Love[i]
Bride:
[j]May the wine go straight to my beloved,
gliding over the lips and teeth.
11 I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is for me.[k]
12 Come, my beloved,
let us go forth into the fields
and spend the night in the villages.
13 Let us go to the vineyards early
and see if the vines are budding,
if their blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom;
there I will give you my love.
14 The mandrakes[l] emit their fragrance,
and at our doors are the rarest of fruits,
fresh as well as ripened,
which I have kept in store for you, my beloved.
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 7:1 The chorus sees the bride as resembling Abishag the Shunammite, the exceptionally beautiful girl of whom 1 Ki 1:1-4 speaks. The passionate praise is received by the bride while she dances with joy.
In the poetic comparison, the terms are taken from the geography of Israel; this is a way of also singing the happiness of the people who rediscover their land. Thus, our chants will exult in the joy of the kingdom of God and the happiness that radiates from the holy city where all will be gathered together. - Song of Songs 7:1 The comparisons have to be understood in the light of Eastern esthetics, and even then they are not always easy to understand.
- Song of Songs 7:1 Shulammite: usually interpreted as referring to a woman from Shunem, specifically Abishag the Shunammite (1 Ki 1:1-4).
- Song of Songs 7:3 Wine . . . wheat: symbols of fertility.
- Song of Songs 7:5 Heshbon: a city in the Transjordan blessed with a great supply of spring water. Bath-rabbim: “Daughter of many,” so named perhaps because at that gate people went in crowds for water. Tower of Lebanon: probably the beautiful and towering mountains of Lebanon.
- Song of Songs 7:6 Carmel: a region on the west coast of the kingdom famous for its majesty and beauty.
- Song of Songs 7:8 Palm tree: a tree known for its stateliness.
- Song of Songs 7:9 The bride’s beauty is an irresistible draw for her husband.
- Song of Songs 7:10 In her turn, the bride lets the cry of her heart come forth; she invites the bridegroom to a promenade in the exuberant countryside of the new spring. Everything reminds them of the joy of union. However, there is a bit of regret: how she would like to bear witness before everyone that she and her lover belong to one another, and how she would like to take him home to her mother for their marriage! The poem concludes with a refrain that evokes the bride asleep, filled with tenderness and love.
Again, the destiny of Israel seems to us to be very close to this adventure. Overwhelmed by God’s love, the people will one day respond perfectly to the invitations of the one who is their spouse. And for more than one mystic there is no better image for the spiritual encounter with God than the new joy of a betrothal. - Song of Songs 7:10 The bride offers the wine of her love to the bridegroom.
- Song of Songs 7:11 See notes on Song 2:16a; 6:3.
- Song of Songs 7:14 Mandrakes: herbs thought to inspire love and increase fertility (see Gen 30:14).