שיר השירים 7

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Song of Solomon 7 is the second full praise of the bride, this time from her feet upward, spoken to a woman who is now a wife. Her sandaled feet, the curves of her thighs like a craftsman's jewels, her waist, her breasts like twin fawns, her neck an ivory tower, her eyes the pools of Heshbon, her head like Carmel, her hair holding the king captive. He resolves to climb the palm tree; her mouth is the best wine. Then she answers, reversing the curse of Eden: I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me. She invites him to the countryside and the vineyards in bloom, where she will give him her love.

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Song of Solomon 7 begins at the feet, which tells you the woman is dancing, and it does not look away. The bridegroom praises his wife from her sandals up to her hair, and where the wedding poem of chapter 4 stopped at her breasts, this one does not stop at all: her thighs are the work of a master jeweler, her navel a goblet of wine, her waist a heap of wheat fenced with lilies, her neck ivory, her eyes the pools of Heshbon, her nose the watchtower of Lebanon, her head Mount Carmel, and her hair a net in which a king is caught. He says he will climb the palm tree, and he means it. Then, in the middle of his sentence about her mouth being like the best wine, she takes the sentence over and finishes it herself, and what she says next is the line the whole Song has been moving toward. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me. The word for desire is the one Genesis uses when it tells the woman after the fall that her desire will be for her husband and he will rule over her; here it runs the other way, and there is no ruling in it. She invites him out of the city into the countryside, to sleep among the wildflowers and rise early to see whether the vines have budded, and there, she says, I will give you my love. The mandrakes are in bloom, and at the door she has stored up every delicacy, old and new, for him. It is the most physical chapter in the Bible, and the Bible keeps it, because this is what love was made to be.

Ключові місця

Song of Solomon 7:1-6 Song of Solomon 7:7-9 Song of Solomon 7:10 Song of Solomon 7:11-13 Genesis 3:16 Song of Solomon 4:1-7

Historical and literary context

The praise poem, or wasf, that describes the beloved feature by feature was a fixed form of ancient love poetry, and the Song contains four of them; this one is unusual in beginning with the feet, which suggests the woman is dancing, and in describing her more intimately than chapter 4, appropriate to marriage. Heshbon was a Moabite city with famous pools, Carmel the wooded headland on the coast, and purple the color of royalty. Mandrakes were believed to be aphrodisiacs, as in the story of Rachel and Leah. The bride's words in verse 10, "his desire is for me," use the rare Hebrew word for desire that Genesis 3:16 uses in the curse on the woman, "your desire will be for your husband," and reverse its direction.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 5 praise the bride from feet to head, ending with the king held captive in her hair. Verse 6 is the summary exclamation. Verses 7 to 9a resolve to climb the palm and enjoy its fruit, her breath, and her mouth. Verse 9b is the bride's interruption, finishing his sentence about wine. Verse 10 is her declaration of mutual belonging. Verses 11 to 13 are her invitation to the vineyards, the blossoms, the mandrakes, and the delicacies she has stored up for him.

Why this chapter matters

Verse 10 is one of the most theologically loaded lines in the Song: read beside Genesis 3:16, it pictures married love restored to what it was before the fall, with desire turned from domination to delight, and it has been central to Christian and Jewish teaching that the Song celebrates marriage as God intended it. The chapter's invitation to the vineyards, "there I will give you my love," is the Song's frankest statement that lovemaking belongs to the goodness of creation. In allegorical reading the description of the bride became the church's beauty in Christ's eyes, and Carmel, Lebanon, and Heshbon its universal reach.

Interpretive tension to watch

The explicitness of verses 1 to 9 has embarrassed translators, who have variously softened "navel" and "thighs" and blurred the palm-tree verses, and readers must decide how much of the poem's physicality to let stand. Whether the woman is dancing, as the ending of chapter 6 suggests with its "dance of Mahanaim," and before whom, is unclear. The allegorical tradition read every feature symbolically, the eyes as teachers, the nose as discernment, which strikes most modern readers as forced, but the chapter's place in the canon depends on some account of why it is Scripture, and interpreters still differ on that account.

Запитання до цього розділу

"I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me" reverses the words of Genesis 3:16. What would it mean for a marriage to reflect that reversal?
The bride is praised here more intimately than before the wedding. How does the Song treat the growth of love over time?
She stores up "every delicacy, new as well as old" for her beloved. What does it look like to keep treasuring someone you already have?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

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1 מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים בת נדיב חמוקי ירכיך כמו חלאים מעשה ידי אמן׃ 2 שררך אגן הסהר אל יחסר המזג בטנך ערמת חטים סוגה בשושנים׃ 3 שני שדיך כשני עפרים תאמי צביה׃ 4 צוארך כמגדל השן עיניך ברכות בחשבון על שער בת רבים אפך כמגדל הלבנון צופה פני דמשק׃ 5 ראשך עליך ככרמל ודלת ראשך כארגמן מלך אסור ברהטים׃ 6 מה יפית ומה נעמת אהבה בתענוגים׃ 7 זאת קומתך דמתה לתמר ושדיך לאשכלות׃ 8 אמרתי אעלה בתמר אחזה בסנסניו ויהיו נא שדיך כאשכלות הגפן וריח אפך כתפוחים׃ 9 וחכך כיין הטוב הולך לדודי למישרים דובב שפתי ישנים׃ 10 אני לדודי ועלי תשוקתו׃ 11 לכה דודי נצא השדה נלינה בכפרים׃ 12 נשכימה לכרמים נראה אם פרחה הגפן פתח הסמדר הנצו הרמונים שם אתן את דדי לך׃ 13 הדודאים נתנו ריח ועל פתחינו כל מגדים חדשים גם ישנים דודי צפנתי לך׃