5
Man:
1 I enter my garden, my sister, my bride! I gather myrrh with my spice. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. Let us eat our fill of love! Let us be drunk with love!* Some take this last line as being spoken by the women of Jerusalem, in which case it could be translated, “Friends, eat and drink, and become drunk with love.”
Woman:
2 Though I was asleep, my mind† “Mind”: literally, “heart,” but in Hebrew the heart is primarily the source of thought. Emotions are more often located in the bowels. (See e.g. KJV for Genesis 43:30; Lamentations 1:20 etc. and even in this very chapter—verse 4, translated here as “deep inside.”) was racing. I heard my love knocking, and calling out, “Please open the door, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect love. My head is soaked with dew, my hair is wet from the night mist.”
3 I replied,‡ Implied. “I've already got undressed. I don't have to get dressed again, do I? I've already washed my feet. I don't have to make them dirty again, do I?” 4 My love thrust his hand into the opening. Deep inside I longed for him. 5 I got up to let my love in. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, as I grabbed the handles of the bolt. 6 I opened up to my love, but he had left—he was gone! I was crushed as a result.§ “As a result”: literally, “when he spoke,” but this makes no sense since the text has already stated that he was gone. I looked for him but I couldn't find him. I called him but he didn't answer. 7 The watchmen found me as they went through the city. They beat me, they hurt me, and stole my cloak, those watchmen of the walls. 8 Women of Jerusalem, promise me if you find my love and wonder what you should tell him, tell him I am weak with love.
Women of Jerusalem:
9 Why is the one you love better than any other, most beautiful of women? In what way is the one you love better than any other that we should promise you that?
Woman:
10 My love has dazzling good looks and is very fit—better than ten thousand others! 11 His head is like the finest gold* It is unsure as to what comparison is being made—some believe it is to a bronzed complexion, others to some valued beauty., his hair is wavy and black as the raven. 12 His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, washed with milk and mounted like sparkling jewels.† “Mounted like sparkling jewels”: or, “sitting beside pools.” 13 His cheeks are like a flowerbed of spices that produces‡ Septuagint reading. Hebrew “towers.” fragrance. His lips are like lilies, dripping with liquid myrrh. 14 His arms are round bars of gold inlaid with jewels. His abdomen is like carved ivory inlaid with lapis lazuli.§ “Lapis lazuli”: sometimes translated “sapphires” but it seems these were unknown at the time. 15 His legs are columns of alabaster set on bases of gold. He looks strong, like the mighty cedars of Lebanon. 16 His mouth is the sweetest ever; he is totally desirable! This is my love, my friend, women of Jerusalem.

*5:1 Some take this last line as being spoken by the women of Jerusalem, in which case it could be translated, “Friends, eat and drink, and become drunk with love.”

†5:2 “Mind”: literally, “heart,” but in Hebrew the heart is primarily the source of thought. Emotions are more often located in the bowels. (See e.g. KJV for Genesis 43:30; Lamentations 1:20 etc. and even in this very chapter—verse 4, translated here as “deep inside.”)

‡5:3 Implied.

§5:6 “As a result”: literally, “when he spoke,” but this makes no sense since the text has already stated that he was gone.

*5:11 It is unsure as to what comparison is being made—some believe it is to a bronzed complexion, others to some valued beauty.

†5:12 “Mounted like sparkling jewels”: or, “sitting beside pools.”

‡5:13 Septuagint reading. Hebrew “towers.”

§5:14 “Lapis lazuli”: sometimes translated “sapphires” but it seems these were unknown at the time.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher