SNG 2:5 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 1:2–2:7: The woman and man admired each other

In Section 1:2–2:7, the woman and man praised each other, and they became more confident that they loved each other. In the introduction (1:2–4) the woman spoke about her desire for the man. Then she spoke of her humble life working in the family vineyard (1:5–6), and she seemed to question whether she was worthy for him to love her. Then he praised her, and she praised him. When she spoke at the end of the section (2:3–6), she felt secure that he loved her.

In this section, the woman used several comparisons to speak of her feelings about the man. She spoke as though he were a shepherd (1:7–8) or a king (1:4; 1:12), implying that he was like a shepherd or king to her in certain ways. He was also like a bag of myrrh (1:13), henna blossoms (1:14), and an apple tree (2:3–4) to her. The woman compared herself to “a rose of Sharon,” and “a lily of the valleys” (2:1). The man compared her to “a mare of Pharaoh’s chariots” (1:9). The Notes will discuss the meaning of each of these comparisons as it occurs in its section.

Lines 1:2–4 are the introduction to Section 1:2–2:7. In these lines, the poet summarizes the Song’s message and introduces its main characters: the woman, the man, and a group of young women. In the Song the woman spoke more often than the man spoke. After the title (1:1), she began the Song by saying that she wanted him to kiss her. She referred to him only as “him” or “you.” In Hebrew poetry, the authors do not introduce their characters as they do in stories, but in some languages it may be more natural to introduce them and identify them. Some ways to do this are:

Provide headings to identify the characters. Some headings may apply only to a verse or part of a verse. For example:
1:4e The Woman commented about the young women of Jerusalem You may need to use a different form the first time a character is introduced. For example:
1:2–4b A woman speaks to the man she loves
Use a speech introducer in the first part of the verse. If you use this option, you may want to indicate in some way that the speech introducer is not in the text itself. For example:
1:4e (The woman said to her beloved,) “Rightly do they love you.”
1:2a [There were a certain woman and man. She said to/about him,] “Let him kiss me…

Choose an option that fits your situation, and use it consistently throughout the book. You should also decide how you will refer to the speakers in the headings. Some ways to do that are:

woman, man, women (GNT)

beloved, lover, friends (NIV)

bride, groom, companions (REB)

she, he, others (ESV)

The woman often referred to the man as “my beloved” (RSV), and she also called him “the one whom my soul loves,” “the king,” and “my friend.” The man often referred to her as “my love” and also as “fairest among women,” “my dove,” “my sister,” “my bride,” and “queenly maiden.”

Paragraph 2:1–7 The man and woman praised each other

Lines 2:1–7 are the end of the first poetic section in the Song. In them, the man and woman praised each other. He brought her to his banquet room and embraced her. In 2:7 she cautioned the women of Jerusalem not to awaken love before the right time.

2:5a

Sustain me with raisins;

Strengthen me with raisins,
Feed^(sing) me raisin cakes to support/revive me,

2:5b

refresh me with apples,

revive me with apples,
give^(sing) me apples to strengthen me,

2:5a–b

The clauses “sustain me with raisins” (2:5a) and “refresh me with apples” (2:5b) are parallel and have a similar meaning.

Sustain me…refresh me: The Hebrew verbs that the BSB translates as Sustain and refresh are plural. Such plural forms usually imply that the woman was speaking to more than one person. However, in this context the plural forms indicate that the woman spoke with strong emotion. She probably spoke only to her beloved.

Many languages do not use plural forms in this way. Use a natural way in your language to indicate that the woman spoke to her beloved with strong emotion. For example, some languages use an exclamation word or punctuation to show extra emphasis:

Oh, sustain me with raisins, and strengthen me with apples!

The emphasis might also be translated as urgency:

Quick! Sustain me…refresh me

Sustain…refresh: The Hebrew verbs that the BSB translates as Sustain and refresh have similar meanings. Both verbs are intense forms, which emphasize the meaning. The verb Sustain probably means “strengthen, support,” and the verb refresh means “to renew strength.” Together the verbs emphasize that the woman needed to be strengthened in spirit to continue to receive the man’s love and to give her love to him. She was overwhelmed by the love that she felt for him and received from him.

For translation examples, see the General Comment on 2:5 at the end of the Notes on 2:5c.

with raisins…with apples: In that culture people thought of raisins and apples as special foods that strengthen people for love. In some languages people may not be familiar with raisins or apples. If that is true in your language, you may choose to use a general term. For example:

special foods to strengthen me for love

No English versions make explicit what raisins and apples symbolize. If this symbolism is not implied in your translation, you may want to include a footnote about it. For example:

These foods (raisins and apples) symbolize that romantic love is sweet/good.

raisins: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as raisins refers to the fruit of the grape vine. The English word raisins implies that the fruit has been dried, but scholars differ about whether the Hebrew word implies that. The word may refer here to cakes made from grapes.

People ate raisins for enjoyment, not mainly to satisfy hunger. Grapes and raisins were often used as a symbol that had romantic or sexual meaning. Here the author implied that eating the raisin cakes would encourage her romantically.

Some other ways to translate raisins here are:

raisin cakes

cake made from grapes

fruits from the grape vine

For more information about grapes, see the note on “vineyards of En-gedi” in 1:14b.

apples: The word apples refers to the fruit of the “apple tree” that was mentioned in 2:3. This fruit was also used often as a symbol that had romantic or sexual meaning, just as raisins were. Like raisins, apples were eaten for enjoyment, not mainly to satisfy hunger. Here the woman implied that eating the apples would encourage her romantically.Some scholars think the fruit the BSB translates apples were actually apricots. They think it is uncertain whether apples as we know them were known in ancient Israel.

For more information about apples, see the note on “apple tree” in 2:3a.

General Comment on 2:5a–b

The two clauses in 2:5a–b are parallel. The woman requested two foods to encourage her in expressing love. In some languages it may be more natural to combine the requests in one clause. For example:

^5a-bBring raisin cakes and apples to encourage me.

2:5c

for I am faint with love.

because I feel faint/weak from love.
for I am lovesick.
because I am overwhelmed by love.

for: The Hebrew connector that the BSB translates as for introduces the reason why the woman wanted raisins and apples in 2:5a–b. It is because she was “faint with love.”

I am faint with love: The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as faint can mean “ill” or “weak.” Here it means “weak.” When the woman said I am faint with love, she indicated that she was so overwhelmed by her feelings of love that she felt weak. She was not actually sick with an illness.

The phrase faint with love emphasizes her strong emotions. She did not want to avoid this “faintness.” She wanted to be strengthened and refreshed so that she could continue to receive and give love to the man.

Some other ways to translate 2:5c are:

for I am faint with love. (NRSV)

I feel sick from love, so…

because I am overwhelmed by love.

General Comment on 2:5

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of clauses in this verse. For example:

^5cI am faint with love, so encourage me with raisin cakes and apples.

This order puts the reason for the woman’s request before the request itself.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

סַמְּכ֨וּ⁠נִי֙ בָּֽ⁠אֲשִׁישׁ֔וֹת רַפְּד֖וּ⁠נִי בַּ⁠תַּפּוּחִ֑ים

sustain,me with,raisin-cakes refresh,me with,apples

These two clauses mean basically the same thing. In the author’s culture both raisins and apples were believed to give people strength for love. The second clause emphasizes the meaning of the first by repeating the same idea with different words. Hebrew poetry was based on this kind of repetition. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could connect the clauses with a word that shows that the second clause is repeating the first one, not saying something additional, or you could combine these two clauses into one. Alternate translation: [Sustain me with raisin cakes; yes, refresh me with apples] or [strengthen me with fruit] or [strengthen me for love with fruit]

Note 2 topic: translate-plural

סַמְּכ֨וּ⁠נִי֙ & רַפְּד֖וּ⁠נִי

sustain,me & refresh,me

The phrases Sustain me and refresh me are plural imperative forms in the original language. The woman is addressing the man using plural forms to show the intensity of her feelings. The ULT indicates this intensity by placing an exclamation point at the end of this verse. Your language may allow you to use a plural form for this purpose, or you could use the singular form and show the intensity of emotion in another way.

Note 3 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

סַמְּכ֨וּ⁠נִי֙ בָּֽ⁠אֲשִׁישׁ֔וֹת רַפְּד֖וּ⁠נִי בַּ⁠תַּפּוּחִ֑ים כִּי־חוֹלַ֥ת אַהֲבָ֖ה אָֽנִי

sustain,me with,raisin-cakes refresh,me with,apples that/for/because/then/when faint_of love I

If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these phrases, since the second phrase gives the reason for the result that the first phrase describes. Alternate translation: [Because I am sick with love, sustain me with raisin cakes and refresh me with apples]

Note 4 topic: translate-unknown

בָּֽ⁠אֲשִׁישׁ֔וֹת

with,raisin-cakes

Here, raisin cakes were cakes made of dried grapes pressed together. If your readers would not be familiar with this type of fruit, you could use the name of something similar in your area, or you could use a more general term. Alternate translation: [with cakes made of dried fruit]

Note 5 topic: translate-unknown

בַּ⁠תַּפּוּחִ֑ים

with,apples

See how you translated the word “apple” in [2:3](../02/03.md).

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / hyperbole

כִּי־חוֹלַ֥ת אַהֲבָ֖ה אָֽנִי

that/for/because/then/when faint_of love I

The woman speaks of feeling sick with love as an exaggeration to emphasize the strength of her feelings for the man. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a different way to express the emphasis. Alternate translation: [for my love for you is so strong that I feel as if I were sick with love] or [because my love for you overwhelms me like a sickness]

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

אַהֲבָ֖ה

love

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of love, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [longing for you]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.

OET interlinear SNG 2:5

Hebrew word order