Song Of Solomon 7

¹ How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

² Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

³ Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

⁴ Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

⁵ Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

⁶ How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

⁷ This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

⁸ I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;

⁹ And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

¹⁰ I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.

¹² Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.

¹³ The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

World Behind This Chapter

Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Song Of Solomon 7.

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

?

What kind of dance is the “dance of Mahanaim”?

UNRESOLVED

The Hebrew phrase is obscure and the KJV’s “company of two armies” reflects one interpretation of מַחֲנָיִם. Whether it names a place, a dance, or a poetic image remains debated.

?

Why is jewelry part of the body description?

Ancient dress and adornment communicated status, beauty, wealth, and identity. Earrings, necklaces, bangles, and worked metal provide an important material backdrop for the Song’s comparisons.

?

What does the date palm image add?

Date palms were economically important cultivated trees throughout the ancient Near East. Their tall form and clustered fruit make the comparison visually concrete rather than merely decorative.

⌘ Sources to ExploreCurated research paths for this chapter 3

History & Daily Life1

• Archaeology Meets DNA: The Ancient History of the Date PalmRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew

  Illustrated account of the date palm’s domestication, cultivation, fruit, ancient remains, and importance across the Middle East and North Africa. Its photographs of tall palms and hanging fruit clusters help readers visualize Song 7:7–8, where the woman’s stature is compared to a palm and her breasts to clusters of fruit.

Maps & Timeline1

• Song of Songs MapThe Israel Bible

  Map locating Heshbon, Damascus, Carmel, Jerusalem, Gilead, Lebanon, and other places woven into the Song’s body imagery. It helps readers see how chapter 7 transforms the beloved into a poetic landscape stretching across the ancient Levant.

Language & Literature1

• The Poetry of Beauty: What Does It Mean to See the Beloved?TheTorah.com

  Analyzes the Song’s visual praise poems, including chapter 7’s movement from feet upward through the body. It helps readers understand why towers, bowls, grain, lilies, pools, mountains, fruit trees, and architectural imagery should be read as poetic associations rather than anatomical diagrams.

WORTH A CLOSER LOOK

Artifacts

See real Achaemenid gold earrings

Song 7 describes beauty through jewelry and worked luxury materials. These Achaemenid gold earrings, dated to the sixth–fourth centuries BCE, use granulation and raised bosses; related earrings are known from Susa and Pasargadae. They offer a concrete view of elite adornment in the wider Persian-period world.

View the object →