Female lover
“O you!
Who dwell in the gardens!
My companions are listening
For your voice.
Let me hear it!
Make haste!
My beloved!
Be like a gazelle!
Be like a young stag
Upon the mountains of spices!”
This female lover wanted to hear her lover’s voice. Her companions were listening for his voice with her, as she wanted to hear it. She wanted her lover to make haste. She wanted him to be like a young gazelle or stag in a mountain of spices. So ends this great romantic love story.
Female lover
“O that
His left hand was under my head!
His right hand embraced me!”
Here is an exact repetition, word for word, of the same verse that was in chapter 2. This female lover wants her lover to put his left hand under her head at the same time that his right hand embraces her. This young female lover still yearns for the embrace of her beloved.
Female lover
“O that you were
Like a brother to me!
You have nursed at my mother’s breast!
If I met you outside,
I would kiss you.
No one would despise me.
I would lead you.
I would bring you
Into the house of my mother.
I would bring you
Into the chamber of the one who bore me.
I would give you
Spiced wine to drink.
I would give you
The juice of my pomegranates.”
This female lover wishes that her lover was her brother so that both of them would have been nursed with her mother’s breast. If she met him outside, she would kiss him and not feel ashamed. She would lead him to her mother’s house. She wanted to bring him into the chamber room of her mother. She wanted to give him spiced wine and the juice of her pomegranates. Clearly this was an invitation to her lover to come to where she lived like earlier in chapter 3.
Female lover
“I am my beloved’s.
His desire is for me.
Come!
My beloved!
Let us go forth into the fields.
Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us go out early to the vineyards.
Let us see
Whether the vines have budded,
Whether the grape blossoms have opened,
Whether the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance.
Over our doors are all choice fruits.
There are new as well as old.
I have laid up for you.
O my beloved!”
This female lover responded that she belonged to her lover. She knew that he has a desire for her. She asked her lover to go into the fields and lodge in the villages. She wanted them to go out into the vineyards early in the day. She wanted to check whether the vines had budded, whether the grape blossoms were open, and whether the pomegranates were in bloom. She wanted to give her love to him there in vineyards where the mandrakes gave off their fragrance. There would be all kinds of choice fruits, both old and new. She had prepared them for him. She wanted her lover.
Chorus
“Where has your beloved gone?
O fairest among women!
Which way has your beloved turned?
We may seek him with you.”
This chorus of the Jerusalem daughters wanted to know where her lover had gone. They wanted to help her find him, since she was the fairest among all women. However, they needed some guidance.
Female lover
“I opened to my beloved.
But my beloved had turned away.
He was gone.
My soul failed me
When he spoke.
I sought him.
But I did not find him.
I called him.
But he gave no answer.
Making their rounds in the city,
The sentinels found me.
They beat me.
They wounded me.
They took away my mantle.
These were the sentinels of the walls.”
This is a lot like chapter 3, where this female lover went searching in the streets to find her lover. Instead of her lover being at the door, he had left. Her soul was faint. Once again, like in chapter 3, she called for him, but her lover gave no answer. However, when she searched the city, the result here was more brutal. The sentinels or watchmen guards of the town, instead of helping her, beat her up, wounded her, and took her coat or mantle.
Female lover
“I slept.
But my heart was awake.
Listen!
My beloved is knocking.
‘Open to me!
My sister!
My love!
My dove!
My perfect one!
My head is wet
With dew.
My locks are wet
With the drops of the night.’
‘I had put off my garment.
How could I put it on again?
I had bathed my feet.
How could I soil them?’
My beloved thrust his hand
Into the opening.
My innermost being
Yearned for him.
I arose
To open to my beloved.
My hands dripped
With myrrh.
My fingers dripped
With liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.”
The female lover was sleeping, but her heart was awake. Then she heard her lover knocking at the door. He wanted her to open the door. He called her sister, lover, dove, and the perfect one. His head was wet with dew. His hair was wet with night rain drops. She had taken off her garments. Was she naked? She had washed her feet. He then put his hand into the opening. Meanwhile the female lover yearned for him. She got up to open the door to her beloved. Her hands and fingers were dripping with liquid myrrh as she reached the bolt on the door. She was anticipating a rendezvous with her lover.
Female lover
“My beloved is mine.
I am his.
He pastures his flock among the lilies.
Until the day breathes,
Until the shadows flee,
Turn!
My beloved!
Be like a gazelle.
Be like a young stag
Upon the rugged clef mountains.”
This young female lover explains that her lover is hers and she is his. He is the shepherd among the lilies. Her beloved is once again, as earlier, a gazelle and a young stag in the rugged mountains. Is she the rugged mountains? Why did they have to wait until the day began or the shadows fled?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 