His cheeks: refer to comments on 1.10; 4.3 (see also 6.7).

Are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance: whereas in 1.10 the young woman’s cheeks were beautiful because of the decorative ornaments she wore, here the young man’s face is described. It is likened to beds of spices. Behind this phrase lies a Hebrew term that is singular in form, but which almost certainly should be read as plural. Manuscript evidence supports this view. We meet the phrase again in 6.2, on which occasion beds is parallel to “garden,” and clearly that is its meaning here also. Good News Translation fills out the comparison, suggesting that the young man’s cheeks are “as lovely as a garden.” We may question this choice of an adjective, however, since the point of the comparison is that the garden is fragrant, not that it is lovely. It is better, then, to say “His face smelled sweet like a garden full of spices” or “His face is [or, His cheeks are] fragrant, like a garden where spices grow.”

On spices refer to comments on 4.10.

Yielding fragrance is the Revised Standard Version rendering of a very difficult expression. The Hebrew text is literally “towers of fragrance.” Fox takes the expression to mean “His cheeks are like beds of spices, [fragrant like] towers of spices.” Pope and others, however, suggest that, rather than meaning “towers,” it is a participle, “growing,” used of plants, children, and hair (Psa 144.12; Num 6.5). We note that the Septuagint also interprets the word as a participle, “producing.” Pope’s translation, “His cheeks like spice beds, burgeoning aromatics,” seems to suggest a sweet-smelling beard. This suggestion makes good sense, but we are still faced with the difficulty of deciding whether the phrase describes the young man’s cheeks or the bed of spices. It is likely that yielding fragrance is an extended metaphor, so we can fill out the metaphor: “The beard on his cheeks is like a sweet-smelling garden.”

His lips are lilies: on the significance of lips, see comments at 4.3, 11. The term lily is discussed in 2.1-2. Although lacking the preposition “like,” it is nevertheless obvious that this is what is being said; “His lips are like lilies” (as Good News Translation). If Pope is correct, then the flower in question, whichever variety it is, is reddish in color. However, the point here is not the color of the young man’s lips but rather the delight his kisses give his lover.

Distilling liquid myrrh: in verse 5 a similar expression was used of perfume dripping from the woman’s hands onto the handles of the door. The verb distilling is literally “drip,” so the picture is of lips that are wet and moist. This can be translated “his lips are as delightful as lilies; they are moist with the finest myrrh,” or for the second clause “… they are like the finest spices to me.”

For the entire verse we can suggest:

• The beard on his cheeks is like
A sweet-smelling garden.
His lips are like the sweetest lilies,
Wet with dripping myrrh.

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 .