UTN uW Translation Notes:

Song of Songs 5 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

5:1 The conclusion of the garden metaphor5:2-8 The theme of longing and searching5:9 The women of Jerusalem ask the young woman why she thinks the man she loves is special5:10-16 The woman responds to the question the young women of Jerusalem asked her

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

The attractiveness of the man

The woman describes the man as the epitome of male attractiveness in 5:10-16.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

Metaphors

As the author has done throughout this book so far, he continues to use metaphors to describe feelings and events that are common to romantic relationships. (See: figs-metaphor)

Order of events

5:2-8 seems to describe events that would have chronologically and logically occurred before the events described in 3:6-5:1. The solution to this seeming problem is to understand that this book is poetry and that the author is poetically describing emotions and feelings that occur between a man and a woman who romantically love each other. Because the author is using poetry to describe the couple’s romantic relationship and its associated feelings, he does not need to follow the conventions of chronological story telling.

Whether 5:2-8 describes events that really happened or that happened in a dream.

There are two main views among Bible scholars regarding the events described in 5:2-8. One view is that the events which 5:2-8 describe happened in a dream. The other view is that the events that 5:2-8 describe happened after the man awakened the women from sleeping or from being nearly asleep. The vast majority of Bible scholars think that the first view is correct, and that the events described in 5:2-8 happened in a dream.

The “sister” metaphor

The phrase "my sister is" used in 4:9; 4:10, 4:12, 5:1, and 5:2. The man uses this phrase as a term of endearment for the woman he loves. The woman is not actually his sister. You should translate this phrase in 5:1 and 5:2 the same way you translated it in 4:9, 4:10, and 4:12 because the author uses it with the same meaning here. See the note at the first occurrence of this phrase in 4:9 for more information.

An alternate translation possibility for the word the ULT translates as “towers of” in 5:13

In verse 13, the ULT follows the standard Hebrew text by saying “towers of.” However, as a footnote in the ULT indicates, many biblical scholars believe that the original reading was more likely “yielding.” Consider using that reading in your translation. If “yielding” is used in place of “towers of” then, the first portion of 5:13 in the ULT would read “His cheeks are like a bed of spices, yielding herbal spices” (and The UST would read “His cheeks are like a garden where spices grow that produce sweet-smelling perfume”). The phrase “yielding herbal spices” would then be further describing the phrase “a bed of spices.” The point of the comparison would be that the man’s cheeks smell like a garden bed of spices which yields herbal spices. If you choose to use the word “yielding” in your translation, you could explain the comparison if it would be helpful to your readers. Alternate translation: “His cheeks smell like a bed of spices that produce herbal spices” or “His cheeks smell like a bed of spices that yield herbal spices”