7:4,5Heshbon was the ancient capita! of the Amorites. Bath-rabbim may have been a gate of Heshbon. The “tower of Lebanan” may have been a watchtower (evidently a prominent one and seen as very beautiful). Some suggest that this refers to the Lebanon mountain range. Mount Carmel overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and Palestine.
Life Application Study BibleSong of SongsChapter 7
Song of Songs 7
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1084, 1085
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
7Song of Songs 7
1the work of a skilled craftsman.
2Your navel is perfectly formedlike a goblet filled with mixed wine.Between your thighs lies a mound of wheatbordered with lilies.
3Your breasts are like two fawns,twin fawns of a gazelle.
4Your neck is as beautiful as an ivory tower.Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbonby the gate of Bath-rabbim.Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanonoverlooking Damascus.
5Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel,and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty.The king is held captive by its tresses.
6Oh, how beautiful you are!How pleasing, my love, how full of delights!
7You are slender like a palm tree,and your breasts are like its clusters of fruit.
8I said, “I will climb the paim treeand take hold of its fruit.”May your breasts be like grape clusters,and the fragrance of your breath like apples.
9May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine,flowing gently over lips and teeth.*
6. The bride’s tender appeal
Young Woman
10Tam my lover's,and he claims me as his own.
11Come, my love, let us go out to the fieldsand spend the night among the wildflowers.*
12Let us get up early and go to the vineyardsto see if the grapevines have budded,if the blossoms have opened,and if the pomegranates have bloomed.There I will give you my love.
13There the mandrakes give off their fragrance,and the finest fruits are at our door,new delights as well as old,which I have saved for you, my lover.Young Woman1 Oh, I wish you were my brother,who nursed at my mother’s breasts.Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching,
Textual footnotes
- chariots of Amminadab. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
- of the Hebrew is unceriain.
- 7:1 Verses 7:1-13 are numbered 7:2-14 in Hebrew text.
- 7:9 As in Greek and Syriac versions and Latin Vulgate; Hebrew reads over lips of sleepers.
- 7:11 Or in the villages.
Life Application Notes 3 notes
7:10-13As a marriage matures, love and freedom between marriage partners should increase. Here the girl takes the initiative in lovemaking. Many cultures have stereotypes of the roles men and women play in lovemaking, out the security of true love gives both marriage partners the freedom to initiate acts of love and express their true feelings.
7:13Mandrakes were a somewhat rare plant often thought to increase fertility. Mandrakes are also mentioned in Genesis 30:14-17.