Song of Songs 7, Beautiful Dancer

At the end of chapter six, there is reference to a dance. Presumably the woman is dancing and others, include the woman's lover, are watching. The man speaks....

Song of Songs 7:1-2, Beautiful feet, legs...

How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter!

Your graceful legs are like jewels, 

the work of a craftsman's hands.

Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine.

Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.

This time the description of the beautiful woman begins with her feet and moves up, instead of beginning with her hair and moving down. This, suggests Alter, is because the woman is dancing and onlookers first notice her graceful feet.

Song of Songs 7:3, Two beautiful breasts

Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

Once again, among the beautiful attributes of the woman are her breasts. In this passage (see verse 8) the erotic plans of the male lover cannot be dismissed.

Song of Songs 7:4-5, An ivory tower and soft pools

Your neck is like an ivory tower.

Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.

Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.

Your hair is like royal tapestry; 

the king is held captive by its tresses.

A long elegant neck, soft eyes, a prominent nose and head -- all are beautiful, says the lover. Her beautiful dark tresses (like a royal purple curtain in a palace) entrance the man, who is pleased to be her "king".

Song of Songs 7:6-7, Clusters of fruits

How beautiful you are 

and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!

Your stature is like that of the palm, 

and your breasts like clusters of fruit.  

As earlier, the garden metaphor continues as a description of the young woman. Her beauty has many delights, she is tall and elegant and her breasts are like a cluster of fruits.

Song of Songs 7:8-9a, Erotic plans

I said, "I will climb the palm tree;

 I will take hold of its fruit." 

May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, 

the fragrance of your breath like apples

and your mouth like the best wine.

The man's intentions are clear. He plans to "climb" the elegant palm treat, and caress her breasts, and enjoy her sweet kisses.

Song of Songs 7:9b, Yes, enjoy the wine

May the wine go straight to my lover, 

flowing gently over lips and teeth.

The woman's response to her lover is simply to encourage him. She is not embarrassed or ashamed by his sexual intentions. Indeed, she delights in his arousal. She responds, if my mouth is like the best wine, then come, drink!

Song of Songs 7:10-11, Let us spend the night in the villages

I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me. 

Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, 

let us spend the night in the villages.

The lovers renew their commitments to each other, with plans to spend the night in the villages. Some see this paragraph as beginning a new poem.

Some have suggested that "spending the night in the villages" could be viewed as spending the night in the open air, in the rural countryside.

Song of Songs 7:12-13, The mandrakes send out their fragrance

Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, 

if their blossoms have opened, 

and if the pomegranates are in bloom--

there I will give you my love.  

The mandrakes send out their fragrance, 

and at our door is every delicacy, 

both new and old, 

that I have stored up for you, my lover.

In the villages the woman will give her love to the man, there among the many images of fertility, vines budding, blossoms opening, mandrakes sending out their fragrances. Mandrakes (see Genesis 30:14-16) were viewed as an aphrodisiac, encouraging sex and fertility. The couple will make love in their private place, with wonderful scents from nature at their door. (Once, long ago, Jan and I backpacked high into the Rockies on a three-day trip across the continental divide. The first night, finally away from our small children, we made love in our tent, with gentle rain falling all around us. What pleasure -- Jan and the beauty of nature!)

The Hebrew word dō·ḏay means "love" or "love-making." The NIV translates it "my love." The Hebrew text then shortly follows that word with duday, that is, "mandrakes". The rhythmic ’et·tên’eṯ dō·ḏay lāḵ had·dū·ḏā·’îm is literally, "I will make love to you -- the mandrakes..." As Alter often points out, this poetic wordplay, surely appreciated by a Hebrew audience, is lost in translation into English.