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Journey of a Passage

Song of Songs 7:1–9 (Hebrew 7:2–10)

From feet to hair: Heshbon, Damascus, Carmel and the palm

Praise rising from her sandaled feet to her hair; real places as images (the pools of Heshbon, the tower of Lebanon facing Damascus, Carmel); the palm tree and its clusters; and at the end of v. 9 the woman's voice breaking in. The last phrase of v. 9 differs: Hebrew "gliding over the lips of sleepers"; the library's Greek "pleasing to my teeth and my lips."

Read Song of Songs 7:1–9 (Hebrew 7:2–10) in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ 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).

    Quid videbis in Sulamite, nisi choros castrorum? Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis! Juncturæ femorum tuorum sicut monilia quæ fabricata sunt manu artificis. Umbilicus tuus crater tornatilis, numquam indigens poculis. Venter tuus sicut acervus tritici vallatus liliis. Duo ubera tua sicut duo hinnuli, gemelli capreæ. Collum tuum sicut turris eburnea; oculi tui sicut piscinæ in Hesebon quæ sunt in porta filiæ multitudinis. Nasus tuus sicut turris Libani, quæ respicit contra Damascum. Caput tuum ut Carmelus; et comæ capitis tui sicut purpura regis vincta canalibus. Quam pulchra es, et quam decora, carissima, in deliciis! Statura tua assimilata est palmæ, et ubera tua botris. Dixi: Ascendam in palmam, et apprehendam fructus ejus; et erunt ubera tua sicut botri vineæ, et odor oris tui sicut malorum. Guttur tuum sicut vinum optimum, dignum dilecto meo ad potandum, labiisque et dentibus illius ad ruminandum.

    Latin numbering: Song 7:1–9. 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.

    מַה־יָּפ֧וּ פְעָמַ֛יִךְ בַּנְּעָלִ֖ים בַּת־נָדִ֑יב חַמּוּקֵ֣י יְרֵכַ֔יִךְ כְּמ֣וֹ חֲלָאִ֔ים מַעֲשֵׂ֖ה יְדֵ֥י אָמָּֽן׃ שָׁרְרֵךְ֙ אַגַּ֣ן הַסַּ֔הַר אַל־יֶחְסַ֖ר הַמָּ֑זֶג בִּטְנֵךְ֙ עֲרֵמַ֣ת חִטִּ֔ים סוּגָ֖ה בַּשּׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃ שְׁנֵ֥י שָׁדַ֛יִךְ כִּשְׁנֵ֥י עֳפָרִ֖ים תָּאֳמֵ֥י צְבִיָּֽה׃ צַוָּארֵ֖ךְ כְּמִגְדַּ֣ל הַשֵּׁ֑ן עֵינַ֜יִךְ בְּרֵכ֣וֹת בְּחֶשְׁבּ֗וֹן עַל־שַׁ֙עַר֙ בַּת־רַבִּ֔ים אַפֵּךְ֙ כְּמִגְדַּ֣ל הַלְּבָנ֔וֹן צוֹפֶ֖ה פְּנֵ֥י דַמָּֽשֶׂק׃ רֹאשֵׁ֤ךְ עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ כַּכַּרְמֶ֔ל וְדַלַּ֥ת רֹאשֵׁ֖ךְ כָּאַרְגָּמָ֑ן מֶ֖לֶךְ אָס֥וּר בָּרְהָטִֽים׃ מַה־יָּפִית֙ וּמַה־נָּעַ֔מְתְּ אַהֲבָ֖ה בַּתַּֽעֲנוּגִֽים׃ זֹ֤את קֽוֹמָתֵךְ֙ דָּֽמְתָ֣ה לְתָמָ֔ר וְשָׁדַ֖יִךְ לְאַשְׁכֹּלֽוֹת׃ אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙ אֶעֱלֶ֣ה בְתָמָ֔ר אֹֽחֲזָ֖ה בְּסַנְסִנָּ֑יו וְיִֽהְיוּ־נָ֤א שָׁדַ֙יִךְ֙ כְּאֶשְׁכְּל֣וֹת הַגֶּ֔פֶן וְרֵ֥יחַ אַפֵּ֖ךְ כַּתַּפּוּחִֽים׃ וְחִכֵּ֕ךְ כְּיֵ֥ין הַטּ֛וֹב הוֹלֵ֥ךְ לְדוֹדִ֖י לְמֵישָׁרִ֑ים דּוֹבֵ֖ב שִׂפְתֵ֥י יְשֵׁנִֽים׃

    …and your palate like the best wine, going (down) to my beloved smoothly, gliding over the lips of sleepers (v. 9)

    Hebrew numbering: Song 7:2–10. Hebrew numbering 7:2–10.

  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).

    How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath–rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples; And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

  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.

    Que verrez-vous en la Sulamite, qui vient comme les rangs d’une armée? Fille de Nadab, que les sandales donnent de grâce à tes pas! Les contours de tes jambes ressemblent à des colliers, chef-d’œuvre d’un artiste. Ton nombril est comme un cratère fait au tour, оù le vin ne manque jamais. Ta poitrine est comme un monceau de froment enveloppé de lis. Tes deux mamelles sont comme les deux faons jumeaux d’un chevreuil. Ton cou est comme une tour d’ivoire, tes yeux comme les étangs d’Hésebon, près des portes de la fille issue de beaucoup de peuples. Ton nez est comme la tour du Liban qui regarde Damas. Ta tête est posée sur toi semblable au mont Carmel, et ta chevelure est comme de la pourpre; le roi est retenu dans tes galeries. O ma bien-aimée, que de grâce, que de suavité en tes délices! Ta stature est celle d’un palmier; tes mamelles sont comme des grappes de raisin. J’ai dit: Je monterai au palmier; j’atteindrai à son faîte, et tes mamelles seront comme les grappes de la vigne, l’odeur de tes narines comme celle des pommes, Et ton gosier comme un bon vin. (Épouse) Qu’aime mon frère bien-aimé (époux), et qui plaît à mes dents et à mes lèvres.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 7:1–9. 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. Giguet's file inserts (Épouse) and (époux) inside v. 9: an editorial speaker label.

What changed, and why

Bat-nadiv (v. 1), "daughter of a noble" (KJV "prince's daughter"); the Greek reads a name, "daughter of Nadab."

Rehatim (v. 5): tresses, or water-troughs; KJV "galleries"; a king "held captive" in her hair.

V. 9: yeshenim ("sleepers") vs. shinnayim ("teeth") are similar in Hebrew script; the Greek may reflect the latter. A C check against the critical Greek and the Hebrew apparatus is needed (S-C02, S-C03).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek of 7:9 reads "teeth and lips."
  • Plausible, not confirmedThe Greek reflects a different Hebrew word in 7:9.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Song of Songs 7: I Am My Beloved's →In English numbering: the man praises the woman from her sandaled feet upward: thighs like jewels, navel like a bowl of wine, belly like a heap of wheat set about with lilies, breasts like twin fawns, neck like an ivory tower, eyes like the pools of Heshbon, nose like the tower of Lebanon facing Damascus, head like Carmel, hair like purple in which a king is held captive (7:1–5). She is like a palm tree; he will climb it and take hold of its fruit (vv. 6–9). She answers: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me" (v. 10), and invites him into the fields and villages, to the vineyards, where "the mandrakes give a smell" and "I will give thee my loves" (vv. 11–13).
    • 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.