Chapter 7 (following Hebrew versification, beginning at 7:2 in English Bibles) contains the final and most daring wasf — a foot-to-head praise of the woman's body as she dances. The man describes her feet, thighs, navel, belly, breasts, neck, eyes, nose, and head with increasingly bold imagery. The chapter climaxes with the woman's triumphant declaration: 'I am my beloved's and his desire is upon me' — the final evolution of the mutual-possession formula. She invites him to the countryside, the vineyards, and the fields where she will give him her love.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This wasf reverses the direction of chapter 4: there he began with her head and moved down; here he begins with her feet and moves up. The reversal suggests she is dancing — the observers' eyes naturally move upward from her sandaled feet. The metaphors are also bolder: her navel is a round goblet that never lacks mixed wine, her belly is a heap of wheat fringed with lilies, her breasts are like clusters of grapes he desires to grasp. The woman's declaration in verse 11 (Hebrew) is the Song's theological summit: ani le-dodi ve-alay teshuqato ('I am my beloved's and his desire is upon me'). The word teshuqah ('desire') appears only three times in the Hebrew Bible — here, in Genesis 3:16 (the woman's desire for her husband after the fall), and Genesis 4:7 (sin's desire for Cain). The Song reverses Genesis 3: there, desire was linked to domination; here, desire is mutual and free.
Translation Friction
The boldness of the body imagery has always made commentators uncomfortable. The navel-as-wine-goblet and belly-as-wheat-heap are the Song's most explicitly physical descriptions, and attempts to allegorize them reveal the discomfort more than they resolve it. The Hebrew in verse 1 describes her dancing thighs and the 'curves of her thighs' (chammuqe yerekayikh), which is frank anatomical description. We preserve the text's directness.
Connections
The teshuqah ('desire') in verse 11 explicitly reverses Genesis 3:16, where the same word describes the woman's desire bound to her husband's rule. Here the same desire operates without domination — the fall's distortion of eros is undone. The vineyard and field imagery of verses 12-14 return to the Song's opening themes (1:6, 2:15) and anticipate the final vineyard declaration in 8:12. The mandrakes (duda'im) in verse 14 echo Genesis 30:14-16, where Rachel and Leah negotiate with mandrakes for access to Jacob — an aphrodisiac plant linked to fertility and desire.
How beautiful are your sandaled feet,
O daughter of nobles!
The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,
the work of a master craftsman.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
חַמּוּקֵי יְרֵכַיִךְchammuqe yerekayikh
"curves of your thighs"—curves, roundings, turnings of the thighs/hips; the smooth contours of the upper leg
Chammuqim (from chamaq, 'to turn, to curve') describes the flowing lines of her thighs. The same root appears in 5:6 where the beloved 'turns away.' Here the turning is physical beauty — the curves of a dancing body.
Translator Notes
The wasf begins at the bottom — pe'amayikh ba-ne'alim ('your feet in sandals'). She is dancing, and the observers' eyes start at her moving feet. Bat nadiv ('daughter of a noble/prince') gives her aristocratic status. Chammuqe yerekayikh ('the curves of your thighs') is frank anatomical praise — the smooth, rounded contours of her upper legs are like chala'im ('ornaments'), as finely wrought as a master artisan's work.
Your navel is a rounded goblet —
may it never lack mixed wine!
Your belly is a mound of wheat
fringed with lilies.
KJV Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Shorrerekh aggan ha-sahar ('your navel is a round/crescent goblet') — the comparison to a wine goblet that never runs dry is unmistakably sensual. Bitnekh ('your belly, your womb') is a heap of wheat (the golden-tan color of her skin) surrounded by lilies (shoshannim). The images are of abundance: wine that never empties, grain heaped high, flowers framing everything.
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
KJV Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Repeated from 4:5 with slight variation — the 'grazing among the lilies' clause is omitted here, focusing purely on the twin fawns. The repetition underscores the permanence of his admiration.
Your neck is like a tower of ivory.
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
beside the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
facing toward Damascus.
KJV Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
בְּרֵכוֹתberekhot
"pools"—pools, reservoirs, fishponds; calm collected water
The pools of Heshbon were famous in antiquity. Comparing her eyes to still, deep pools emphasizes depth, clarity, and calm beauty — water you can see into and lose yourself in.
Translator Notes
The neck moves from 'Tower of David' (4:4) to 'tower of ivory' (migdal ha-shen) — smooth, pale, and precious. Her eyes are berechot be-Cheshbon ('pools in Heshbon') — the still, deep pools near an ancient Transjordanian city. Her nose is ka-migdal ha-Levanon ('like the tower of Lebanon facing Damascus') — a watchtower on the heights, commanding and dignified.
Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and the flowing hair of your head is like purple —
a king is held captive in the tresses!
KJV Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Her head is like Carmel — the great headland jutting into the Mediterranean, majestic and commanding. Her flowing hair (dallat roshekh) is like argaman ('purple') — the royal color. Then the astonishing conclusion: melekh asur ba-rehatim ('a king is captured/bound in the tresses'). Her hair is a trap that snares kings. His whole wasf concludes with his own captivity — he, the king, is a prisoner of her beauty.
How beautiful you are, how delightful —
O love, among pleasures!
KJV How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Mah yafit u-mah na'amt ('how beautiful you are and how pleasant') — the superlatives overflow. Ahavah ba-ta'anugot ('love among delights/pleasures') addresses her not by name but as ahavah itself — she IS love, embodied.
Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
KJV This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Qomatekh damtah le-tamar ('your height is like a palm tree') — the date palm is tall, straight, graceful, and fruitful. Her breasts are now compared to eshkolot ('clusters') — date clusters or grape clusters hanging from the palm. The shift from fawns to fruit clusters prepares for his intention in the next verse.
I said: 'I will climb the palm tree,
I will seize its branches!'
Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
KJV 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;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Amarti e'eleh ve-tamar ('I said, I will climb the palm tree') — he will ascend her body as one climbs a date palm to harvest fruit. Ochazah be-sansinnav ('I will seize its branches/fronds') — achaz ('to seize') is the same verb the woman used in 3:4 when she seized her beloved. Now he seizes her. The climbing and grasping are explicitly sexual.
and your mouth like the finest wine —
flowing smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over the lips of sleepers.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Ve-chikkekh ke-yen ha-tov ('and your palate/mouth like the best wine') — her kisses intoxicate like the choicest vintage. The wine 'goes for my beloved smoothly' (holekh le-dodi le-mesharim) — the woman takes over mid-verse, speaking of 'my beloved.' The final image — dovev siftey yeshenim ('causing the lips of sleepers to murmur') — suggests wine so potent it makes even sleeping people speak, or kisses that penetrate even sleep.
Song of Solomon 7:10
אֲנִ֣י לְדוֹדִ֔י וְעָלַ֖י תְּשׁוּקָתֽוֹ׃
I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is toward me.
KJV I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
תְּשׁוּקָהteshuqah
"desire"—desire, longing, craving; an overwhelming pull toward another
Teshuqah appears only in Genesis 3:16, 4:7, and here. Its rarity makes each occurrence significant. In Genesis, desire is entangled with sin and domination. In the Song, desire is liberated — it flows freely between lovers without power distortion.
Translator Notes
The teshuqah wordplay with Genesis 3:16 is almost certainly deliberate. The Song presents itself as Eden restored — a garden where desire operates without shame, domination, or curse. His desire is upon her as gravity is upon the earth: natural, constant, joyful.
Come, my beloved, let us go out to the field,
let us spend the night among the henna blossoms.
KJV Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
She takes the initiative: lekhah dodi ('come, my beloved'). She invites him out of the city, into the sadeh ('field, countryside'). Nalinah ba-kefarim can mean 'let us lodge in the villages' or 'let us spend the night among the henna blossoms' (kofer/kefer). The henna reading connects to 1:14 and the Song's fragrance imagery.
Let us rise early to the vineyards,
let us see if the vine has blossomed,
if the grape blossoms have opened,
if the pomegranates are in flower.
There I will give you my love.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The vineyard inspection from 6:11 returns, but now with an explicit purpose: sham etten et doday lakh ('there I will give you my lovemaking'). The vineyard that was 'mine' in 1:6 — the one she had not tended — is now the site of deliberate, chosen lovegiving. She will give him her dodim in the place where love and nature merge.
The mandrakes give off their fragrance,
and at our doors are all choice fruits,
new and old —
my beloved, I have stored them up for you.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
דּוּדָאִיםduda'im
"mandrakes"—mandrake plant (Mandragora officinarum); an aphrodisiac and fertility aid
Duda'im shares a root with dodim ('lovemaking') and dod ('beloved'). The plant was widely believed to promote fertility and desire. Its appearance here saturates the scene with erotic intention.
Translator Notes
Duda'im ('mandrakes') are an aphrodisiac plant with a long history in love magic (Genesis 30:14-16). Their fragrance announces sexual readiness. At 'our doors' (petachenu) — the shared threshold — are kol megadim ('all choice fruits'), both new and old. She has been saving pleasures for him: chadashim gam yeshanim ('new and also old') — fresh experiences and familiar delights.
If only you were like a brother to me,
one who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
KJV O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Mi yitenkha ke-ach li ('who would make you like a brother to me') — she wishes for the social freedom that siblings enjoy. In the ancient Near East, a sister could kiss her brother publicly without scandal. She wants to express her love openly, without social punishment. The verse exposes the constraint she lives under: their love, though right and mutual, is judged by the world outside.