Song of Songs 7
A beautiful woman
The young man:
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
my princess!
7:1Sandals are light shoes that do not completely cover the person's feet. A princess is a daughter of a king or a queen.
Your round hips are as beautiful as jewels
that a clever worker has made.
7:1The hips are the top part of a person's legs, where they join the body.
2 Your navel is like a round bowl
that is always full of good wine.
7:2A person's navel is the place on their body where they were joined to their mother before birth.
Your stomach is like a round heap of wheat
with lilies around the edge.
3 Your breasts are like two young gazelles
that are twins.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes shine like the pools in Heshbon
that are near the Bath Rabbim gate.
7:4Heshbon was a town in Israel.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
that looks towards Damascus.
7:4Damascus was an important capital city.
5 Your head stands tall on you, like Mount Carmel.
7:5Mount Carmel is a mountain in Israel.
Your long hair hangs down like a royal cloth.
It is so beautiful that it can make the king its prisoner!
6 You are very beautiful, my dear friend,
and I love you.
You give a lot of pleasure to me.
7 You stand like a tall palm tree.
Your breasts are like bunches of fruit that hang from the tree.
7:7A bunch of fruit is a group of fruits that are growing on the same piece of branch.
8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.
I will take hold of its fruit.’
For me, your breasts are like bunches of grapes.
Your breath is like the sweet smell of apples.
9 For me, your mouth has the taste of the best wine.
The young woman:
May the wine pour out for my lover.
May it pour over his lips and his teeth.
10 I belong to my lover,
and he wants to be with me!
11 Come with me now, my lover!
Let us go and walk through the fields.
We can stay in the villages for the night.
12 We can get up early in the morning
and go to the vineyards.
We can see if the vines have started to make new leaves.
We can see if their flowers have opened.
We can see if the pomegranate trees have flowers.
When we are there
I will give my love to you.
13 The mandrake plants send out their sweet smell.
At our door, there are many good things to eat.
7:13A mandrake is a plant that people eat. Its root has a shape like a human body. People thought that it helped them to enjoy sex. Sometimes people stored fruit over the door of their house. Then it would become dry, sweet fruit that people would enjoy.
I have stored many good things that are both old and new.
I have kept them all for you, my lover.