7:5a
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel: The phrase Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel is more literally “your head upon you ⌊is⌋ like Carmel.” Mount Carmel refers to a majestic, tall mountain called Mount Carmel. The phrase implies that the woman’s head gave her majesty and beauty, as Mount Carmel adds majesty and beauty to the land of Israel.
Some ways to translate this simile are:
Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Your head shows your dignity/glory that is like Carmel mountain.
Mount Carmel: Mount Carmel is a mountain that is surrounded by flat land, so it is especially prominent and majestic. It is about 550 meters (1800 feet) high, and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
7:5b
the hair of your head like purple threads: The clause the hair of your head like purple threads compares the woman’s long wavy hair to the color purple. Purple dye was expensive, and people considered purple to be a royal color. In this verse the color purple probably suggests that the woman was as majestic as a queen. It may imply that her hair was a shiny black color as the sun shone on it. It is unlikely that she dyed her hair purple.
Some ways to translate the clause are:
and your hair is like purple cloth (New Century Version)
-or-
Your hair is like royal tapestry (New International Version)
-or-
the sheen of your hair radiates royalty (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
your locks are shiny black
7:5c
the king is captured in your tresses: This clause is a figure of speech. It indicates that when a man, even a king, looks at the woman’s hair (tresses), he is like a captive. He cannot stop looking at it because it is so beautiful. The man implies that he himself is like such a king. Some other ways to translate the clause are:
its beauty could hold a king captive. (Good News Translation)
-or-
you have captured your king with its loveliness
-or-
your hair is so lovely that the king cannot escape its charms.
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