5:19
This verse does not fit the normal pattern of two parallel lines. The first line describes the woman’s beauty by using two animal metaphors. The next two lines are similar in meaning. They urge the young man to be satisfied with his wife’s sexual charms.
19a A loving doe, a graceful fawn—
19b may her breasts satisfy you always;
19c may you be captivated by her love forever.
In Hebrew, the last two lines are not arranged in the form of a chiasm. You will need to decide if a chiasm effectively expresses the meaning here.
5:19a
A loving doe, a graceful fawn: Here the wife is compared to animals that symbolize beautiful appearance and graceful movements. The first animal is a female deer or antelope. The second animal has been identified as a female deer, gazelle, or mountain goat.
loving: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as loving may refer to the wife’s beauty. For example:
lovely (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
pretty (Good News Translation)
According to several scholars, loving has strong sexual connotations and refers to lovemaking, so “affectionate” would also be an appropriate term to use in English. If your language has an expression that refers to a woman’s skill in making love, you may use it here. Be sure that any term that you use is acceptable to your readers.
Some ways to translate these two metaphors are:
• Change the metaphors to one or more similes. For example:
She is as lovely and graceful as a deer. (New Century Version)
-or-
She is like a beautiful antelope or agile mountain goat.
• If it is not appropriate to compare a wife’s beauty to a deer or similar animal, translate the point of comparison without a figure of speech. For example:
She is affectionate/loving. She is also beautiful and graceful.
5:19b
may her breasts satisfy you always: There is a textual difference here:
(1) The Masoretic Text has breasts. For example:
May her breasts satisfy you at all times (New Revised Standard Version)
(2) The LXX has “love.” For example:
Let her love always make you happy (New Century Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1) because of the parallel with “bosom” in 5:20. If it is offensive in your language to speak of a woman’s breasts satisfying her husband’s sexual desires, use a euphemism or a more general term, such as beauty. For example:
Let her charms keep you happy (Good News Translation)
5:19c
may you be captivated by her love forever: The young man is urged to be overcome with delight at making love with his wife. In Hebrew, the word captivated sometimes describes a person who “staggers” from drunkenness. Here it is used figuratively of being “drunk” with love. Other ways to translate this idea are:
be infatuated always with her love (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
may you be intoxicated always by her love (New Revised Standard Version)
If expressions like these are not appropriate in your language, you may use a more general expression. For example:
May you always be completely delighted by the way she loves you.
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