From the general description in verse 10, the young woman continues by picturing her lover in detail. She starts, as these songs traditionally do, by describing his head.

His head is the finest gold: although the Hebrew clearly says “his head,” Good News Translation considers this to mean his face. This view comes no doubt from the fact that if his head were gold his hair would hardly be black. In Dan 2.32 the king saw in his dreams a statue whose head was made of gold, so there is some significance in the young woman’s description, especially as several parts of his body are likened to gold. Perhaps the point of comparing him to gold is to express something of great beauty. Whether it refers to his head or just his face is difficult to determine, but, as in many poems, being so specific is not always uppermost in the poet’s mind.

Finest gold renders the Hebrew combination of two different and unusual nouns for gold (similar apparently to Dan 10.5; 1 Kgs 10.18). The combination is generally thought to indicate the finest quality gold. Good News Translation “bronzed and smooth” understands the nouns to refer to the young man’s color and complexion rather than his beauty. If the description is of his head, then the precise meaning of the phrase finest gold is unclear. We may have to accept the Good News Translation interpretation and understand it to refer to his face; it is beautiful and bronzed. The problem of determining the precise meaning of the phrase goes as far back as the Septuagint period. We suggest that the metaphor intends to say something like “his head is beautiful like fine gold” or “his face is beautiful and bronzed.”

His locks are wavy: the term locks occurs above in verse 2. Refer there for comments. Wavy is the translation given for the Hebrew adjective, which is also used to describe part of the palm tree. In rabbinic literature it describes something like “waves” or “curls.” This seems to be an appropriate rendering, so we suggest rendering it as “his hair is curly.”

Black as a raven: the adjective black was used in 1.5, 6 and is a standard term. It may indicate that the lover is a young man with no gray hair or, perhaps more likely, that his hair was shiny and beautiful. Elsewhere in the Old Testament raven, or “crow,” represents an unclean scavenger bird (Lev 11.15; Pro 30.17). Here, however, we can safely assume the bird symbolizes blackness. Where this bird is not known or is associated with something negative, we can refer to another black bird or use a local idiom for blackness; for example, “black as coal,” “black as pitch,” or “black as night.”

Translation of the last part of the verse can be “his hair is wavy, and black as a raven.” The entire verse can then be:

• His face is bronzed and beautiful,
his hair wavy, [and] black as a raven.

• His head is finely shaped,
as from purest gold.
His hair is curly, and
as dark as night.

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 .