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Song of Songs 6:4–10

Beautiful as Tirzah, terrible as an army with banners

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners." Tirzah was the early capital of the northern kingdom; the library's Greek ("good pleasure") and the Vulgate ("sweet") translate the name by its meaning. Sixty queens, eighty concubines, but "my dove… is but one"; the queens praise her: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?"

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The poem as first composedUnknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Song (Asma)
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)

    The poem as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Pulchra es, amica mea; suavis, et decora sicut Jerusalem; terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata. Averte oculos tuos a me, quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt. Capilli tui sicut grex caprarum quæ apparuerunt de Galaad. Dentes tui sicut grex ovium quæ ascenderunt de lavacro: omnes gemellis fœtibus, et sterilis non est in eis. Sicut cortex mali punici, sic genæ tuæ, absque occultis tuis. Sexaginta sunt reginæ, et octoginta concubinæ, et adolescentularum non est numerus. Una est columba mea, perfecta mea, una est matris suæ, electa genetrici suæ. Viderunt eam filiæ, et beatissimam prædicaverunt; reginæ et concubinæ, et laudaverunt eam. Quæ est ista quæ progreditur quasi aurora consurgens, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata?

    Latin numbering: Song 6:3–9. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    יָפָ֨ה אַ֤תְּ רַעְיָתִי֙ כְּתִרְצָ֔ה נָאוָ֖ה כִּירוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם אֲיֻמָּ֖ה כַּנִּדְגָּלֽוֹת׃ הָסֵ֤בִּי עֵינַ֙יִךְ֙ מִנֶּגְדִּ֔י שֶׁ֥הֵ֖ם הִרְהִיבֻ֑נִי שַׂעְרֵךְ֙ כְּעֵ֣דֶר הָֽעִזִּ֔ים שֶׁגָּלְשׁ֖וּ מִן־הַגִּלְעָֽד׃ שִׁנַּ֙יִךְ֙ כְּעֵ֣דֶר הֽ͏ָרְחֵלִ֔ים שֶׁעָל֖וּ מִן־הָרַחְצָ֑ה שֶׁכֻּלָּם֙ מַתְאִימ֔וֹת וְשַׁכֻּלָ֖ה אֵ֥ין בָּהֶֽם׃ כְּפֶ֤לַח הָרִמּוֹן֙ רַקָּתֵ֔ךְ מִבַּ֖עַד לְצַמָּתֵֽךְ׃ שִׁשִּׁ֥ים הֵ֙מָּה֙ מְּלָכ֔וֹת וּשְׁמֹנִ֖ים פִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑ים וַעֲלָמ֖וֹת אֵ֥ין מִסְפָּֽר׃ אַחַ֥ת הִיא֙ יוֹנָתִ֣י תַמָּתִ֔י אַחַ֥ת הִיא֙ לְאִמָּ֔הּ בָּרָ֥ה הִ֖יא לְיֽוֹלַדְתָּ֑הּ רָא֤וּהָ בָנוֹת֙ וַֽיְאַשְּׁר֔וּהָ מְלָכ֥וֹת וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖ים וַֽיְהַלְלֽוּהָ׃ מִי־זֹ֥את הַנִּשְׁקָפָ֖ה כְּמוֹ־שָׁ֑חַר יָפָ֣ה כַלְּבָנָ֗ה בָּרָה֙ כַּֽחַמָּ֔ה אֲיֻמָּ֖ה כַּנִּדְגָּלֽוֹת׃

    Beautiful you are, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as bannered hosts (v. 4)

    Hebrew numbering: Song 6:4–10.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them. As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

  5. Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872

    Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Song (Asma)

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Tu es belle, ô ma bien-aimée, comme la tendresse, gracieuse comme Jérusalem, terrible comme une armée en bataille. Détourne de moi tes yeux, car ils m’ont transporté; ta chevelure est comme les troupeaux de chèvres que l’on voit en Galaad. Tes dents sont comme la toison des brebis sortant du lavoir après la tonte, qui toutes ont deux petits, et dont nulle n’est stérile. Tes lèvres sont comme un ruban écarlate, et ton langage est plein de grâce. Tes joues sont comme la peau de la grenade, sans parler de tes beautés cachées. Il y a soixante reines et quatre-vingts concubines, et des jeunes filles sans nombre. Mais ma colombe, ma parfaite est unique; elle est l’unique de sa mère; elle est l’élue de celle qui l’a enfantée. Les jeunes filles l’ont vue, et la déclarent heureuse; les reines et les concubines la loueront. Quelle est celle qui regarde dehors comme le matin; belle comme la lune, élue comme le soleil, terrible comme une armée en bataille?

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 6:3–9. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition.

What changed, and why

Tirzah (Tell el-Far'ah North) was Israel's capital from Jeroboam to Omri (1 Kings 14:17; 16:23–24). Pairing it with Jerusalem pairs two royal cities; whether that dates the poem early is disputed.

Ayummah kannidgalot: "awe-inspiring as bannered troops" or "as the stars" (heavenly host); v. 10's dawn, moon and sun support the cosmic sense.

Verse 10 entered Christian Marian liturgy; in Judaism the Targum reads the passage as praise of Israel.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Greek and Vulgate translate Tirzah as a word.
  • DisputedTirzah's mention dates the poem before Omri.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Song of Songs 6: Beautiful as Tirzah, Terrible as an Army →The daughters ask where her beloved has gone; she knows: "My beloved is gone down into his garden… I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" (6:1–3). He praises her: "beautiful… as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners"; her eyes overwhelm him; he repeats the praise of hair, teeth and temples from chapter 4 (vv. 4–7). "There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one"; even queens praise her: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?" (vv. 8–10). Someone goes down to the nut orchard to see the blossoms, and then a famously obscure line about "the chariots of Amminadib" (vv. 11–12). "Return, return, O Shulamite… What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies" (v. 13; Hebrew 7:1).
    • Investigation: Geography as Poetry →The Song draws its images from a real map: an oasis by the Dead Sea, the snowy northern mountains, the goat-covered hills of Gilead, two royal cities, a green ridge by the sea, the pools of a Transjordanian town, and the Aramean capital. Some names are secure, some regional, some unknown. This investigation lists them and how the site's Atlas marks them.
    • Investigation: The Greek Song and Its Translators →The Greek Song (Asma asmaton) is a close, word-for-word translation. Its differences from the Masoretic Text are usually differences of reading the same consonants ("your breasts" for "your love"), of translating names as words (Tirzah as "good pleasure"), or of interpretation. Later Greek versions (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion) survive in fragments. This investigation lists the main differences found in the library's Greek and explains what kind each is.