Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 6:3:
Kupsabiny: “My beloved is mine, and I am also his. He is grazing his sheep inside where there are flowers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “My beloved is mine and I am his. He is walking among the lilies.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “My beloved (is) mine alone/only/[limiting particle], and I (am) his alone/[limiting particle]. He is-grazing his livestock/animals among the lilies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I belong to the one who loves me, and the one who loves me belongs to me; he enjoys kissing my lips like a shepherd enjoys taking care of his sheep.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine: for comments see 2.16, where an almost identical wording is used. We note, however, that there is a significant difference between the two verses. The ordering found in 2.16 (“My beloved is mine and I am his”) is here reversed. The final phrase, my beloved is mine, seems to emphasize the woman’s deep joy and satisfaction that now, at long last, the two lovers truly belong to one another. We also note that, while 2.16 uses pronouns in the second part of the statement, here there is a full chiastic structure.
Such structures often serve as climaxes at the end of sections of discourse. So here the statement signals the triumphant end of the fourth poem. Good News Translation repeats the order of 2.16, thus destroying the significant emphasis that the chiastic structure provides. We suggest translators preserve the Hebrew order.
He pastures his flock among the lilies completes the repetition of 2.16. As this is an exact repetition of 2.16b, it will be well to use exactly the same wording as is used there.
With this concluding refrain we have come to the end of Part Four of the book. We note once again that a major section ends with the couple making love.
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 .
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.
In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me: The sentence, I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me is similar to 2:16a (“My beloved is mine and I am his”), except that there the order is reversed.
As in 2:16a, the woman probably spoke directly to her beloved here. However, the sentence sounds as though she spoke to someone else. In Hebrew poetry it is common to speak indirectly like that. In some languages it is more natural to indicate that the woman spoke directly to the man. For example:
My beloved, I am yours and you are mine.
Her words indicate that she and the man were strongly committed to each other. She implied that they have romantic love only for each other (and for no one else). It does not imply that they owned each other, but it implies that they were loyal to each other. Other ways to translate this sentence are:
I belong to my beloved, and he belongs to me. -or-
My love, I am your own, and you are my own.
6:3c
he pastures his flock among the lilies: The clause he pastures his flock among the lilies is identical to 2:16b. As in 2:16b, the interpretation issue is the same. This issue is also similar to the one in 6:2c. As in these previous verses, there are two ways to interpret the verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he pastures :
(1) It means “he grazes” or “browses,” implying that he feeds himself. For example:
he grazes among the lilies. (NET Bible)
(2) It means “he pastures (his flock),” implying that he feeds his flock. For example:
he pastures his flock among the lilies. (Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), as in 6:2c and 2:16b. This probably continues the gazelle theme as in 2:16. Because the Berean Standard Bible follows interpretation (2), the NET Bible will be used as the source line for 6:3c.
(NET Bible) he grazes among the lilies: As in 2:16b, this phrase literally means that the man stands among the lilies. It probably also implies that he eats them. Here the phrase has a figurative meaning, not a literal one. It may be helpful to include a footnote here to make the figurative meaning clear. It should be somewhat different from the footnote in 2:16 because of the context. An example of a possible footnote is:
“Browsing/grazing among the lilies” has a figurative meaning here. The lilies are a symbol for the woman, especially for the ways that she delights the man.
(NET Bible) among the lilies: The phrase among the lilies indicates literally that the man was located among the lilies in his garden. The garden and the lilies both refer figuratively to the woman. This figure of speech indicates that the man loves the woman and delights in her.
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