Humanitext Reader

Septuagint · Song of Songs §6.1-6.12

Praise of the Unique Bride and the Descent to the Garden

Passage 6 of 8 · Greek

Summary

The bride speaks of her beloved going down to his garden, and the groom praises her beauty, elevating her as his unique and perfect one. The bride then describes going down to the nut garden, leading to her being unexpectedly placed on chariots, followed by a call for her return.

§6.1Ἀδελφός μου κατέβη εἰς κῆπον αὐτοῦ εἰς φιάλας τοῦ ἀρῶματος, ποιμαίνειν ἐν κήποις καὶ συλλέγειν κρίνα. §6.2ἐγκ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου καὶ ἀδελφιδός μου ἐμοί, ὁ ποιμαίνων ἐν τοῖς κρίνοις. §6.3Καλὴ εἶ πλησίον μου, ὡς εὐδοκία, ὡραία ὡς Ἰερουσαλὴμ, θάμβος ὡς τεταγμέναι.
"My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies." "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he feeds among the lilies." "You are beautiful, O my love, as comeliness, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army set in array.
§6.4ἀπόστρεψον ὀφθαλμούς σου ἀπεναντίον μου, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἀνεπτέραοσαν με.
Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me.
τρίχωμά σου ὡς ἀγέλαι τῶν αἰγῶν αἳ ἀνεφάνησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Γαλαὰδ,
Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
§6.5ὀδόντες σου ὡς ἀγέλαι τῶν κεκαρμένων αἳ ἀνέβησαν ἀπὸ τοῦ λουτροῦ, αἱ πᾶσαι διδυμεύουσαι, καὶ ἀτεκνοῦσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐταῖς.
Your teeth are as a flock of shorn sheep which go up from the washing, whereof everyone bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.
ὡς σπαρτίον τὸ κόκκινον χείλη σου, καὶ ἡ λαλιά σου ὡραία.
Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your speech is comely.
§6.6ὡς λέπυρον ῥόας μῆλόν σου ἐκτὸς τῆς σιωπήσεως σου.
Your cheek is like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
§6.7ἐξήκοντά εἰσιν βασίύισσαι, καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα παλλακαί, καὶ νεάνιδες ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός·
There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
§6.8μία ἐστὶν περιστερά μου, τελεία μου, μία ἐστὶν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς, ἐκλεκτή ἐστιν τῇ τεκούσῃ αὐτῆς.
My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bore her.
εἴδοσαν αὐτὴν θυγατέρες καὶ ναεαοωῦσιν αὐτήν, βασίλισσαι καί γε παλλακαί, καὶ αἰνέσουσιν αὐτήν. §6.9Τίς αὕτη ἡ ἐκκύπτουσα ὡσεὶ ὄρθρος. καλὴ ὡς σελήνη, ἐκλεκτὴ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, θάμβος ὡς τεταγμέναις §6.10Εἰς κῆπον καρύας κατέβην ἰδεῖν ἐν γενήμασιν τοῦ χειμάρρου, ἰδεῖν εἰ ἤνθησεν ἡ ἄμπελος, ἐξήνθησαν αἱ ῥόαι·
The daughters saw her and blessed her; the queens and the concubines also, and they praised her." "Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army set in array?" "I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
ἐκεῖ δώσω τοὺς μαστούς μου σοί.
There I will give you my breasts.
§6.11οὐκ ἔγνω ἡ ψυχή μου· ἔθετό με ἄρματα Ἀμειναδάβ. §6.12Ἐπίστρεφε, ἐπίστρεφε, ἡ Σουμανεῖτις·
My soul knew not; it set me upon the chariots of Aminadab." "Return, return, O Shulamite!"

Notes

  1. 6.2ἐγκ — A corruption or misprint for the nominative personal pronoun ἐγώ ('I'). It coordinates with the dative phrase τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου ('to my beloved') to express possession or belonging: 'I am my beloved's.'
  2. 6.3εὐδοκία — A translation of the Hebrew place name 'Tirzah' based on its etymological meaning ('pleasure', 'comeliness'). While in the Hebrew source it functions as a geographical name in parallel with Jerusalem, the Septuagint translator rendered it as an abstract noun meaning 'pleasure' or 'goodwill'.
  3. 6.6ἐκτὸς τῆς σιωπήσεως σου — Literally 'outside of your silence', which is a mistranslation by the Septuagint of the Hebrew phrase meaning 'behind your veil'. Contextually, it refers to the cheeks hidden behind or inside the veil.
  4. 6.8ναεαοωῦσιν — A severe corruption or OCR error in the text. Judging from the surrounding context, specifically εἴδοσαν ('saw') and αἰνέσουσιν ('will praise'), it is a corrupted form of μακαριοῦσιν ('they will call her blessed').
  5. 6.10δώσω τοὺς μαστούς μου σοί — Meaning 'I will give my breasts to you'. This reflects the Septuagint's traditional rendering, which misread the Hebrew word for 'my love' (dōday) as 'my breasts' (daday) due to similar consonantal spelling.
  6. 6.11Ἀμειναδάβ — The proper name 'Aminadab' in the genitive, or a transliteration of the Hebrew common phrase 'of my noble people' mistaken for a proper name. Syntactically, it functions as a genitive of possession modifying ἄρματα ('chariots').

Cite this passage

Septuagint, Song of Songs §6.1-6.12. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0527.tlg031.humanitext-grc1:6.1-6.12

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.