Song of Solomon 7:1-13

A Wonderful Song about Love

Song of Songs

Mark Kirkpatrick

Chapter 7

The Man

v1 You have *sandals on your feet.

Your feet are as beautiful as the feet of a prince’s daughter!

The curves of your legs are like *jewels.

They are like the work of a skilled worker.

v2 Your stomach is like a round cup.

It shall never have a lack of wine.

Your *waist is a heap of wheat.

Flowers are in a circle round it.

v3 Your breasts are like two young *gazelles.

A *gazelle can have *twins.

Your breasts are like these young*twins.

v4 Your neck is like a high, round building.

Someone has made the building with *ivory.

Your eyes are like the pools at Heshbon.

These pools are next to the gate of Bathrabbim.

Your nose is like a high round building.

This building is in Lebanon.

It points towards Damascus.

v5 Your head is better than a crown.

It is like the mountain called Carmel.

Your hair is like silk.

It is long and smooth.

Although I am the king, I am excited to see it.

v6 You are so beautiful!

And you are so pleasant!

My special young woman, you are a delightful young woman!

v7 You are tall,

as tall as a *palm tree.

And your breasts are like its plentiful fruit.

v8 I said, ‘I will climb the *palm tree.

I will hold its fruit.’

I would like your breasts to be like groups of *grapes.

I would like your breath to smell like apples.

Verse 1 The woman wears *sandals. People thought that these were attractive. The ‘legs’ mean the top part of her legs. They are round in a nice way.

Verse 2 The word ‘stomach’ could have another meaning. It may refer to a special part of a woman. The ‘heap of wheat’ seems strange. But perhaps the woman’s *waist has the flowers round it (not the ‘heap of wheat’). The *Hebrew for ‘circle’ is not certain. It might mean ‘surround’.

Verse 3 This verse is similar to Song of Solomon 4:5 (see the note there).

Verse 4 This building reminds us about another building (Song of Solomon 4:4). That one belonged to David. Her neck is strong. But it is also beautiful. Heshbon was near the Dead Sea. There were pools of water there. We do not know anything about Bathrabbim. The woman’s nose is also like a building! Perhaps it was straight. The *Hebrew may mean that it was white too. Damascus was the capital of Syria.

Verse 5 Carmel is an area of high land by the Mediterranean. There is a wood at the top. It is a beautiful place. The woman’s hair hangs in a loose way. The *Hebrew may mean that it is purple or black. The king will notice it. Her hair is like water – it is smooth.

Verse 6 The *Hebrew may mean that the woman is soft and beautiful. Ibn Ezra, a wise *Hebrew writer, said this about this verse: ‘Love is very pleasant. There is nothing like it in the world. It is a delight for the spirit.’

Verse 7 The *palm tree was a very useful tree. People made many things from it. It had lovely white flowers. It had sweet fruit too. So it was a good thing to compare the woman to.

Verse 8 The man had determination. It was difficult to climb a *palm tree. But the woman was worth it. ‘Let your wife’s breasts satisfy you at all times’ (Proverbs 5:19). However, the picture changes to a *vine. Instead, he now describes the *grapes of a *vine. In verse 9, the woman will describe their love as wine.

The Woman

v9 I would like your mouth to smell like the best wine.

I hope that the wine goes straight to my lover.

I hope that it flows gently over his lips and teeth.

v10 I belong to my lover,

and he desires me.

v11 Come, my lover, let us go to the country.

Let us spend the night in the villages.

v12 Let us go early to the *vineyards.

We will see if the *vine has begun to flower.

Perhaps the *vines have flowers.

We will see if the *pomegranate trees have begun to flower.

There I will give you my love.

v13 You can smell the *mandrakes.

And you can smell all the special fruits that are near us.

Yes, I have saved many pleasant things for you, my lover.

There are both old and new things.

Verse 9 Wine is a *symbol for love. Probably the woman was really thinking about a kiss, as in Song of Solomon 1:2. The woman feels several different things. She enjoys the taste, touch and smell of her lover. His love is gentle. He is not rough. The *Hebrew for ‘teeth’ might mean ‘people who sleep’.

Verse 10 The *Hebrew word for ‘desire’ is unusual. The Old *Testament uses it three times. It is also in Genesis 3:16; Genesis 4:7. In Genesis, this ‘desire’ is not healthy. The man will ‘rule’ her. However, in this Song, the woman’s ‘desire’ is healthy.

Verse 11 Lovers want to be alone. So the country is a good place to go. ‘Country’ might mean ‘fields’. They can be private in the fields. ‘Villages’ might mean ‘henna’. This is a type of wild bush. It has white flowers that have a nice smell. This is the first proper invitation by the woman.

Verse 12 Song of Solomon 6:11 has two similar lines. The woman is expecting something. In Song of Solomon 6:11, the woman was probably alone. But now the woman invites the man to go with her. They can learn more about their love. The woman is willing to make a promise to the man. There is also the *symbol of the fruit. It may suggest sex. She has saved many pleasant things for him (verse 13).

Verse 13 *Mandrakes appear in Genesis 30:14-16. They are plants with roots that can look like people. *Mandrakes have a nice smell. Women used *mandrakes to tempt their husbands. And women thought that *mandrakes would help them to have babies.

sandal ~ a shoe that is open at the top.
jewel ~ a precious stone.
waist ~ the middle part of the body.
gazelle ~ an animal.
twin ~ one of a pair - both come from one mother in one birth.
ivory ~ part of an elephant (called the ‘tusk’). It is hard and white. People use ivory to make beautiful things.
palm ~ a tree.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
Hebrew ~ the language that Song of Songs is written in.
vine ~ a plant with fruit; grapes (a small, soft fruit) grow on them.
vineyard ~ a place where vines grow.
vine ~ a plant with fruit; grapes (a small, soft fruit) grow on them.
pomegranate ~ a fruit which is the size of an orange.
mandrakes ~ a plant with white flowers; part of the plant can look like a person.
symbol ~ something that represents something else; a sign of an object; something that actually means something else.
testament ~ collection of books in the Bible. The Old Testament is the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before Jesus came.
mandrakes ~ a plant with white flowers; part of the plant can look like a person.'

The Beautiful Woman behind the Veil

Song of Songs

Sarah Ruth

Chapter 7

The woman is still in the garden with her husband and with her friends. The man now talks to the woman again. He describes her whole body. He politely describes her feet first and her hair last. He knows her well now, so he can do that. He likes every part of her body.

She is dancing or she is moving beautifully. Usually she covers almost all her body. But today she has not covered some parts, for example, part of her legs. Or, her clothes show clearly the shape of her body.

Man

v1 How beautiful are your feet in *sandals, my *princess!

How beautifully your legs move!

They are like valuable stones

that a *craftsman’s hands have made into a lovely shape.

The woman has married someone who is in the king’s *family. Or this is to show only that she is special. That is all. So people would think that she is like someone in a king’s *family. She feels important. She walks and she talks like a lady.

Man

v2 Your *navel is like a round cup that is full of good *wine.

Your stomach is the shape of many plants that a farmer has picked for food.

*Lilies are round the edge.

The man thinks about farmers that bring food from plants ready for the winter. He is thinking about the good time that they have had together. It was like a drink of the best *wine and a meal of the best food in a *banquet hall.

Maybe the woman has not covered the middle of her body. So her husband can see her *navel. The top edge of her trousers or of her skirt is like *lilies. The lower edge of the cloth that covers her breasts is the same.

The *navel may also mean the part between the top of her legs. So, in verse 2, it says that it is full of good *wine. If a woman likes a man a lot, she will think about him often. She will feel in her body that she loves him. She may feel this even when she is not with him.

Man

v3 Your breasts are like two young *gazelles

born to their mother on the same day.

v4 Your neck is like an *ivory *tower.

Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, by the gate that is called Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like the *tower of Lebanon,

the building from where people can look towards Damascus.

The breasts are the same size. They may be small because she is young. A *gazelle is a wild animal but it is not cruel. A young *gazelle will not yet have fought another gazelle. So the writer may be saying that the woman is friendly. She has not done anything wrong.

Heshbon was a town in the country where Solomon was king. Damascus was an important capital city. Nobody has discovered the gate that is called Bath Rabbim. So we do not know anything about it.

Man

v5 At the top, your head is like the mountain that is called Mount Carmel.

Like a *crown, it makes your whole body even more beautiful.

Your hair hangs down and it shines like long, thin pieces of *silk.

It is like *silk that queens use for their clothes.

It is so beautiful that a king would keep his eyes towards it all the time!

v6 You are very, very beautiful.

I love you.

Many things about you give a lot of pleasure to me.

v7 You are tall like a *palm tree.

Your breasts are like groups of fruit that are very near to each other.

v8 I said, ‘I will climb the *palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit.’

I want your breasts to be like the groups of fruit on the *vine.

I want the smell from your mouth to be like apples.

v9a I want your mouth to be like *wine.

Woman

v9b I want the *wine to go immediately to the man who loves me.

I want to pour it slowly over his lips and over his teeth.

v10 This man loves me and I am his.

He wants me very much.

v11 You love me!

Come! I want us to go away from the towns.

I suggest that we stay in the villages for the night.

v12 We can go early to the *vineyards.

We can see if the *vines have flowers on them now.

We can see if the flowers have opened.

We can see if the *pomegranates have flowers.

There I will give my love to you.

v13 The *mandrakes send out their lovely smell.

There is every good thing to eat at our door.

You love me and I have stored new and old things for you.

Mount Carmel is a mountain near where the man and the woman live.

The man wants to draw his wife near to him again. She, too, wants him to kiss her. But she wants to do this when they are alone together. She is sure about her husband’s strong love for her. She is sure that she wants to stay with him. They both really want to enjoy sex again.

So she tells him that she wants to be alone with him. Earlier, the man had asked the woman to come with him. Now it is the woman who asks the man to come.

Sometimes people stored fruit in a cupboard over the door of their house. Then it would become dry, sweet fruit. People would like to eat it like that. We read about flowers and fruit and their smells. This helps us to feel that we are with the man and his wife. The story is really happening! The words ‘we can see’ show us that they want to find out something. They want to see if their love is becoming greater. The woman wants to show her love to her husband in the same and in different ways.

sandals ~ shoes that do not cover the toes.
princess ~ a woman or a girl in a king’s family.
family ~ family means a father, a mother and their children; but sometimes it includes grandfathers and their children or those that they were born from.
craftsman ~ a person who is able to make things with his hands. He does this very well.
family ~ family means a father, a mother and their children; but sometimes it includes grandfathers and their children or those that they were born from.
navel ~ like a round hole that you can see on the stomach. It is where the baby and the mother had joined together in the beginning.
wine ~ a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from grapes.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
lily ~ a pretty flower.'banquet hall ~ a place where there are many happy people. They eat good food and they drink plenty of wine.
wine ~ a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from grapes.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
lily ~ a pretty flower.
gazelle ~ a wild animal like a deer. It moves quickly.
deer ~ a wild animal. It is the size of a small cow. But it is more beautiful and it moves more quickly.
ivory ~ material that is almost white; people got it from the large teeth of some animals.
tower ~ a tall, narrow building or part of a building. Someone builds a tower so that people at the top of it can see a long way.
crown ~ a king wears this on his head. Someone has made it from valuable metal and valuable stones.
silk ~ expensive cloth.'palm tree ~ a tree with big leaves.
vine ~ the name of the tree on which grapes grow.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
vineyard ~ a place where someone has planted vines.
vine ~ the name of the tree on which grapes grow.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
pomegranate ~ a tree that grows in hot countries; also, pomegranates are its round fruit.
mandrake ~ a plant. The part that is under the ground has a shape like a human body. People eat it. Then they have more fun when they enjoy sex. People think that this happens.
fun ~ when something is not serious all the time. People laugh when they have fun. They laugh because they are enjoying themselves.

The Bible’s Love Poem

Song of Songs

Commentary: Keith Simons. Translation: Mark Kirkpatrick

Chapter 7

The description of the young woman

The young man

v1 You have *sandals on your feet.

Your feet are as beautiful as the feet of a prince’s daughter!

The curves of your legs are like *jewels.

They are like the work of a skilled worker.

v2 Your stomach is like a round cup.

It shall never have a lack of wine.

Your *waist is a heap of wheat.

Flowers are in a circle round it.

v3 Your breasts are like two young *gazelles.

A *gazelle can have *twins.

Your breasts are like these young *twins.

v4 Your neck is like a high, round building.

Someone has made the building with *ivory.

Your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon.

These pools are next to the gate of Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like a high round building.

This building is in Lebanon.

It points towards Damascus.

v5 Your head is better than a crown.

It is like the mountain called Carmel.

Your hair is like silk.

It is long and smooth.

Although I am the king, I am excited to see it.

v6 You are so beautiful!

And you are so pleasant!

My special young woman, you are a delightful young woman!

v7 You are tall,

as tall as a *palm tree.

And your breasts are like its plentiful fruit.

v8 I said, ‘I will climb the *palm tree.

I will hold its fruit.’

I would like your breasts to be like groups of *grapes.

I would like your breath to smell like apples.

The young woman

v9 I would like your mouth to smell like the best wine.

I hope that the wine goes straight to my lover.

I hope that it flows gently over his lips and teeth.

v10 I belong to my lover,

and he desires me.

v11 Come, my lover, let us go to the country.

Let us spend the night in the villages.

v12 Let us go early to the *vineyards.

We will see if the *vine has begun to flower.

Perhaps the *vines have flowers.

We will see if the *pomegranate trees have begun to flower.

There I will give you my love.

v13 You can smell the *mandrakes.

And you can smell all the special fruits that are near us.

Yes, I have saved many pleasant things for you, my lover.

There are both old and new things.