SNG 3:10 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 3:6–5:1: The man and woman married and the man praised her

In 3:6 a new section begins. The author indicates this by several obvious changes from (3:1–5):

The scene changes from a nighttime dream to a public daytime event.
There is a change of speaker.
The search theme in the preceding verses changes to a wedding theme in this section.
The mood changes from anxious searching to joyful celebration.

In this section the author describes the couple’s wedding day. The section has several parts:

3:6–11 The man and woman came to their wedding in a grand procession

4:1–15 The man described his beautiful bride

4:16–5:1 The man and woman consummated their marriage

Paragraph 3:6–11 The poet described the wedding procession

There are several questions that translators need to ask about the meaning of 3:6–11:

What does the author imply when he refers to Solomon in the poem? The name “Solomon” refers figuratively to the man whom the woman loves.At a literal level 3:6–11 seems to be a historical description of Solomon on his wedding day. But which wedding? He had numerous wives! It is more probable that Solomon was the author of the Song, but not one of the characters in it. (For more information about that, see the discussion in 1:1.) The Song describes a nearly ideal love relationship between one man and one woman in which neither of them had other lovers, and the man had no other wives. Yet Solomon was known for having many wives and for his spiritual failure (see 1 Kings 11:1–3). He was not known for his pure love. New Testament passages that mention Solomon refer to his wisdom (Luke 11:31) and his material splendor (Luke 12:27), but not to his love. Solomon’s personal life did not demonstrate the pure monogamous love that we see in the woman’s beloved. If Solomon did write the book, he did so as Israel’s greatest wise man, not as Israel’s ideal lover. References to Solomon in the Song seem to focus on his royal splendor, rather than on Solomon himself or his love. This is certainly true in 1:5 that speaks of the curtains of Solomon. It implies that on his wedding day, the man felt as happy, rich, and powerful as King Solomon. Other verses that refer to Solomon figuratively are 1:4–5; 1:12; 3:6–11; 6:12; and 7:1.The Song uses other figurative motifs, such as a “shepherd” (1:7–8; 6:2–3), gazelle (2:8–9; 2:16–17; 8:14), dove (1:15; 2:14; 4:1; 5:12), lily (2:2; 2:16), vineyard (1:6; 2:15; 8:11–12) mare (1:9–11) and garden (4:12–5:1; 6:2).
Who speaks in this section? Probably the author speaks. If the woman was in the procession, she probably did not describe herself.Some scholars give other suggestions for the speaker here, for example, the man, the daughters of Jerusalem, a chorus, or an unknown speaker.
Does this poem describe an event that really happened? The poem probably does not describe an event that really happened. It uses figurative language, including hyperbole and similes.Bloch and Bloch make a strong point here. Referring to the three passages using this opening formula, “Who is this (fem)…?” (Song 3:6, 6:10, 8:5), they state, “None of these three scenes is realistic; all are hyperboles, evoking images of the triumphant appearance of a majestic, numinous, even godlike figure.” The rhetorical question here calls attention to the radiant and majestic bride’s approach. Bergant understands this poem in 3:6–11 as a metaphorical characterization rather than a description of an actual event. The UBS Handbook leans toward the poetic, non-historical view, as do Munro, Garrett, Gledhill, Keel, and others. The poem begins, “Who is this woman coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke…?” It probably implies that she was surrounded by the smoke of fragrant incense. Like a queen, the woman also had soldiers around her to protect and honor her. The woman was carried in luxury to the man, who waited for her in Jerusalem. He was compared to the greatest of kings. This hyperbole may come from a marriage custom where the bride and groom wore royal crowns on their wedding day.

3:10a

He has made its posts of silver,

He overlaid its posts with silver,
Its support posts he covered with silver,

He has made its posts of silver: The phrase He has made probably implies that Solomon (the woman’s beloved) hired someone to make the silver posts. It probably does not indicate that Solomon himself made them. (In 3:10d–e, the Jerusalem women helped to make the interior of the carriage.) Some ways to indicate this are:

He had its posts made out of silver (GW)

Its posts were made of silver (NET)

posts of silver: The palanquin had four posts, one at each of its four corners. These four posts supported the roof (canopy) of the carriage. The posts were of silver. This phrase probably implies that the posts were made of wood that was overlaid with silver. For example:

He overlaid its posts with silver

Its posts are covered with silver (GNT)

3:10b

its base of gold,

the back of the seat he covered with gold,
its canopy he made of gold,

its base of gold: The phrase its base of gold indicates that the base of the carriage was made of gold or gold cloth. The Hebrew word that the BSB translates as base occurs only here in the OT, and its meaning is uncertain. There are three ways to interpret it here:

It means “the back of (a) chair,” as in the ancient Greek and Latin versions.The Septuagint and Vulgate. For example:
its back was made of gold. (NET) (RSV, CEV, ESV, NASB, NET, NJPS, REB)
It means “cover,” as in the ancient Syriac version.I.e., the Peshitta version. For example:
the canopy of gold (NJB) (GW, NAB, NJB, NLT, GNT)
It means “base” or “foundation.” For example:
its base of gold. (NIV) (BSB, NCV, NIV)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) or (2). The exact meaning is uncertain, but both interpretations make good sense. The main point is the luxurious nature of the materials used.

of gold: The phrase of gold tells what the back of the palanquin was made of. Gold was the most valuable of all metals. Some scholars suggest that fabric made of gold thread was used. This material was sometimes used by kings, queens, and other members of their families.Psalm 45 referred to “gold-woven robes” (RSV). The poetic description of the palanquin implies that it was magnificent. Other ways to translate 3:10b are:

the back is gold (CEV)

he made its base of gold.

3:10c

its seat of purple fabric.

and he made the seat cushion of purple fabric.
he covered its cushion with expensive/beautiful purple cloth.

its seat of purple fabric: Here the author continues to describe the palanquin and how it was made. The phrase its seat refers to the chair or to the cushion (or cushions) inside the palanquin where the rider sat. The phrase of purple fabric indicates that the seat was made of purple cloth. Purple cloth was expensive, and it was often worn by kings. It was also used in the Temple and in the king’s palace.

If this information about purple cloth is not known in your area, it may be helpful to make it explicit in some way. For example:

Its cushions were covered with rare purple cloth.

The seat was made of expensive purple fabric.

In some languages the color purple is not known or implies a wrong meaning, such as mourning or danger. If that is true in your language, you may translate the meaning without mentioning the color. For example:

The seat cushions were covered with expensive cloth.

The cloth of its cushion was dyed with the color that kings wear.

3:10d

Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

Its interior was lovingly arranged by the women of Jerusalem.
The women in Jerusalem decorated its interior with loving care.

Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem: Scholars are uncertain about whether the phrase daughters of Jerusalem is connected with 3:10d or with 3:11a–b. The Notes connects the phrase with 3:10d and gives details later in 3:10d.

There are two main ways to interpret the phrase inlaid with love:The meaning of the Hebrew verb that the BSB translates as inlaid is uncertain. It may mean “inlaid,” “decorated” or “woven.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun that the BSB translates as with love is also uncertain here. The two possible meanings are “love” and “leather.” Some scholars interpret this as a double meaning or word play. In other words, it means both “leather” and “love.” The word “love” might be used adverbially as manner, i.e., “lovingly,” or it might be a synecdoche where “love,” which decks out the interior, stands for the beloved. But this would be difficult to express in the translation.

It describes the manner in which the palanquin’s interior was decorated. It was done lovingly and carefully. For example:
its interior lovingly inlaid (NIV) (BSB, CEV, ESV, NASB, NCV, NIV, NJPS, NLT, RSV, GNT)
It describes the material that was used to decorate the interior.Several options have been suggested by scholars and versions for this material. Leather seems most likely, but some versions also translate this as “ivory,” “ebony” or “scenes of love.” For example:
fitted out with leather (NET) (NAB, NET, NJB, REB)

It is recommended that you follow option (1). This option has the most support from English versions. The manner, “lovingly,” is an appropriate way to interpret the Hebrew word used about the women’s actions, since the Song is poetry about love.It is also possible that there is a double meaning here, “loving” and “leather,” but this would be difficult to express artistically in a translation. Some other ways to translate this interpretation are:

The women in Jerusalem carefully decorated its interior because of their love for the bride and groom.

The beautiful weavings inside the palanquin were lovingly made by the women of Jerusalem.

by the daughters of Jerusalem: Scholars differ about whether this phrase should be part of 3:10 or part of 3:11:

It is part of 3:10. It tells who decorated the inside of the palanquin. For example:
its interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem. (ESV) (BSB, ESV, GW, NASB, NCV, NET, NLT, RSV, GNT, CEV)
It is part of 3:11. It is a direct address to the daughters of Jerusalem. This arrangement makes it part of a parallel chiasm (a-b-b’-a’) with the following phrase. For example, the NRSV says:
Daughters of Jerusalem, come out. (a-b)
Look, O daughters of Zion… (b’-a’) (NIV11, NRSV, REB)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), along with most English versions and many Bible scholars.It is probably best to interpret the Hebrew prefix m- attached to daughters as the agent marker. In 3:10a–c Solomon is the agent. But in 3:10d the passive verb, “is inlaid,” seems to introduce a new agent, the daughters of Jerusalem (3:10e). This use of the preposition m- (or min) with a passive verb commonly marks agent. Another way to translate this meaning is:

^10a-cHe made its posts of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple cloth, ^10dand the daughters of Jerusalem decorated its interior with loving care.

General Comment on 3:10

It is difficult to know exactly what the carriage looked like from the description in 3:10, because the meanings of several of the words are uncertain. However, it is certain that the carriage was made of the finest materials: cedar from Lebanon, silver, gold, and purple cloth. The women of Jerusalem decorated its interior with loving care. It was a beautiful, luxurious vehicle for bringing the bride to her waiting groom.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

עַמּוּדָי⁠ו֙ עָ֣שָׂה כֶ֔סֶף

posts_of,its he/it_had_made silver

The writer assumes that the readers will know that the posts were made of wood and overlaid with silver. You could include this information if it would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: [He made its posts of wood that was overlaid with silver] or [He made its posts of wood covered in silver]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis

רְפִידָת֣⁠וֹ זָהָ֔ב

back_of,its gold

The writer is leaving out some of the words that in many languages a sentence would need to be complete. You could supply these words from the context if it would be clearer in your language. The phrase its back, gold could mean: (1) that the base or foundation of the palanquin was covered in gold. Alternate translation: [its foundation was covered in gold] or [its base of gold] (2) the back of the chair was covered in gold. Alternate translation: [its back is made from gold]

מֶרְכָּב֖⁠וֹ אַרְגָּמָ֑ן

seat_of,its purple

Alternate translation: [and covered the cushion with purple cloth]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

תּוֹכ⁠וֹ֙ רָצ֣וּף אַהֲבָ֔ה מִ⁠בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם

middle_of,its inlaid love from,the_daughters_of Yərūshālam/(Jerusalem)

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express this idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [The daughters of Jerusalem fitted its interior with love]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

תּוֹכ⁠וֹ֙ רָצ֣וּף אַהֲבָ֔ה מִ⁠בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם

middle_of,its inlaid love from,the_daughters_of Yərūshālam/(Jerusalem)

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of love, you could express the same idea in another way that is natural in your language.

תּוֹכ⁠וֹ֙ רָצ֣וּף אַהֲבָ֔ה מִ⁠בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם

middle_of,its inlaid love from,the_daughters_of Yərūshālam/(Jerusalem)

Alternate translation: [The inside of it was lovingly inlaid with decorations by the women of Jerusalem]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

מִ⁠בְּנ֖וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם

from,the_daughters_of Yərūshālam/(Jerusalem)

See how you translated the phrase daughters of Jerusalem in [1:5](../01/05.md).

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 3:10

Hebrew word order

Section 3:6–5:1: The man and woman married and the man praised her

Paragraph 3:6–11 The poet described the wedding procession

3:10a

3:10b

3:10c

3:10d

General Comment on 3:10

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