Your neck is like the tower of David: mention of the tower of David points to one of the fortresses built by this king. It cannot be identified today. The tower describes a tall solid structure, located either on the city wall or at a corner, or an independent structure within the city. Comparison with the young woman’s neck is possible because a long neck was then considered a thing of great beauty. In many cultures this is still true today. Otherwise translators can make this aspect clear, saying some thing like “your long neck is as beautiful as David’s tower.”

Built for an arsenal is a difficult phrase. The passive participle built is followed by a prepositional phrase of uncertain meaning. The problem is a long-standing one; even the Septuagint translators found it difficult to render this phrase, and so they simply preserved the Hebrew term. Scholars today have come to accept that it means “arranged in rows.” Thus the phrase seems to describe the way in which the stones forming the tower were built row upon row, or “in courses” (New English Bible). This is very different from Good News Translation “round and smooth,” an interpretation that seems to be without any basis. Other translations that have been used are “girt with battlements” (New American Bible), “built as a fortress” (Jerusalem Bible), “built for trophies” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and “built to hold weapons” (New Jerusalem Bible).

We need to ask, however, what the phrase “row upon row” or “in courses” conveys. We imagine that this tower was admired for its skilled workmanship. It is possible, then, that the poet is trying to say that the young woman’s neck is “well-built,” or simply long and beautiful. However, it is more like that “row upon row” refers to the following image, her necklaces.

Whereon hang a thousand bucklers: the phrase describes a thousand shields hanging on the walls of the tower. A “buckler” is a shield to protect against sword and arrow attack. Ezek 27.11 describes a similar situation in which shields decorate the walls. Whereon can refer to the young woman’s neck or to the tower. But as this metaphor unfolds we see a picture of a tall and elegant woman with a beautiful necklace. The bucklers are a figure for ornaments worn around the young woman’s neck. Good News Translation turns this metaphor into a simile, “with a necklace like a thousand shields hung about it.”

In Hebrew a thousand is a general term for any large number difficult to count. Certainly thousand is an exaggeration here. We may render this as “countless” or “without number,” or any similar equivalent. Also we may be able to combine the previous figure, “row upon row,” which applied to the tower building, with the description of the necklaces. Drawings and statues from the ancient world show women with necklaces starting at the bottom of the neck, reaching to the chin.

All of them shields of warriors: the unusual word shields may also describe “darts” and similar weapons, so probably here it is an inclusive term for different kinds of armor. All can be rendered as “all kinds of.” On warriors see comments on 3.7. This is clearly a descriptive clause meant to add color to what has just been said. It seems to suggest that warriors’ shields are particularly beautiful. Again in many cultures these images will be difficult to understand, especially in those cultures where the mention of “warriors” and “battles” is anything but romantic! However, if we wish to conserve the flavor of the original, we will have to find some kind of compromise.

Translation can be:

• Your neck is tall and beautiful
like the Tower of David.
Your necklaces hang there
like rows and rows of shields and spears.

• David’s tower stands tall, built row upon row.
So your beautiful neck covered in necklaces
Shines with pendants like thousands of shields.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Song of Songs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1998. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .