The young man seems to want to add to his lover’s beauty by offering her more jewelry.

We will make: in verse 9 the young man began his comparison with the words “I will compare you,” but here we have a first person plural We. Who does this We refer to? We note there is a close resemblance between this passage and the one in 1.4. There also the text shifted from first person singular to first person plural, and we saw that the “we” could refer to the young woman and her group of friends, to the young woman herself, or to the couple. What is the case here? Is the young man including his friends, or is he speaking on his own? Or is he possibly using a form of endearing speech? The context, we believe, indicates he is speaking of himself. In English there are contexts in which we may use first person plural where the meaning is clearly “I.” If there is a similar use of “we” in the translator’s language, we can certainly retain it here. Otherwise we can translate with a singular “I.”

It may also be possible that this expression means that the young man will not be the one making the jewelry. In some languages people make a distinction between ordering something to be done and actually doing that action themselves. If this is the case it is probably the first sense that is in view. In such languages we may need to include this idea in the translation: “Let’s have some [more] jewelry made for you….”

The ornaments are the same as those described in verse 10. Whether he will give her more of the same or will provide other kinds of jewelry is not clear. Jerusalem Bible here uses “earrings,” distinguishing it from the other trinkets she wears. Perhaps it is wisest to retain the same translation of ornaments that was used in the previous verse, though translators may feel it best to use a more particular term in place of the general one. Gold, a rare and highly valued metal, symbolizes the measure of his love for her.

Studded with silver describes the additional decorations. Studded is the Revised Standard Version attempt to render a rare term whose meaning is not fully clear. The root appears to mean spotted or marked in some fashion, so the term itself may well mean that the gold is inlaid with silver. Some translations understand the silver objects to be separate from the gold ones; so Jerusalem Bible has “beads of silver” as a separate item, and New American Bible “silver ornaments.” The text allows both possibilities, but the root of the participle studded seems to suggest that the gold objects are further decorated with silver. While most languages have a word for gold, some may not have a word for silver. If this is the case we can stress the value or the beauty of the jewelry in a general way: “I will make you the most expensive ornaments, set in the finest metal.”

Possible translations:

• I will make you gold jewelry set in silver.

• I will make gold and silver trinkets for you.

• We will make you more precious jewelry [of the highest value].

Note that Good News Translation sees the verse as contrasting with the previous one. Since the translators of Good News Translation take the description in verse 10 to refer to the young woman’s hair, in this verse they see the young man offering her something to enhance her natural beauty—this time real ornaments: “But we will make for you a chain of gold….” This interpretation does not have much support and so should not be followed.

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 .