The young man continues his praise, with growing intensity. We note that his speech repeats two key expressions from the young woman’s first declaration of love (1.2-3), “love better than wine” and “fragrance of your oils.” Translators should use the same wording to translate in both places so as to highlight the similarity.

Parallel lines are also featured. Two lines begin with the exclamation How…! each time referring to your love. Parallelism also occurs in the last two lines of the comparison. This can be seen if we set out a more literal translation:

How sweet is your love,
my sister, my bride
How good is your love
more than wine
And the fragrance of your oils
more than any spice

Similar Hebrew sounds are also evident in this passage, involving repetition of the sounds a, u, and m. In the last line the two words your oils and spice sound somewhat alike in Hebrew. It will certainly be impossible to imitate these sounds in translation, but there may be some sounds or ideophones that can help portray either the sweetness of the fragrances or the ecstasy of the young man.

How sweet is your love: the young man exclaims in praise of the woman’s beauty. Sweet is from the root “be beautiful,” as in 1.15, 16. As we are dealing with lovemaking, it may be more appropriate to use an adjective like “wonderful.” Some languages may use “delightful,” “charming,” or “delicious,” while many, in fact, use “sweet.” Jerusalem Bible translates “What spells lie in your love.” Though effective in English this can easily lead the translator astray, and so it is not a good model. Our word choice here will certainly be dictated by how we translate the word love below.

Your love: this word was first used in 1.2 by the young woman in addressing her lover. See comments there. But here it is the young man speaking to her. We noted above in the discussion that love is a general word; while it includes emotions, it further refers to every demonstration of love, including sexual activity. Many versions translate your love abstractly, while others refer to particular expressions of love such as “your caresses.” In 1.2 the young woman referred to the young man’s kisses. This is certainly included in the meaning. Certain other languages will only be able to say something like “I love the way you hold me.”

In the Hebrew text the form of the word rendered love is dual rather than the normal plural. Early translations like the Septuagint have taken the text to mean “your breasts,” a phrase with the same Hebrew consonants but slightly different vowels. This probably accounts for the Revised English Bible rendering “how beautiful are your breasts.” We recommend against this interpretation and translation.

The word love occurs twice, once in each of the first two lines, so we have the option of repeating the word or of rendering it by two different words. It may be possible, for example, to use a more general term with a more particular one:

• How wonderful your love is, my sister, my bride!
Your kisses are sweeter ….

• How wonderful are your caresses, my darling, my bride!
Your love is sweeter ….

My sister, my bride: see notes on the previous verse.

How much better is your love than wine: this is similar to the expression used in 1.2. Refer to comments there. Here the adjective better presumably refers to the sweetness of the wine. For wine see 1.2.

The word “good” (better) appears only once in the Hebrew text of this verse, but it applies to the two comparisons. It says that the young woman’s love is better than the taste of wine, and the aroma of her perfume (or oils) is better than all kinds of spices. If possible the translator can find one verb or adjective that applies equally well to both contexts; for example, “better,” “is sweeter,” or “is more pleasing.” If such a word does not exist, then two separate words must be found: “your love is sweeter than wine … your perfume more fragrant than all kinds of spices.”

We noted that these lines open with an exclamatory How…! in Hebrew. This can be expressed following the Revised Standard Version model How …; or alternatively we can add an intensifier such as “so” to the clause: “Your caresses are so wonderful, my sister, my bride! Your caresses are so much sweeter than wine [or, drink]!”

And the fragrance of your oils than any spice: most of the vocabulary here has been used already in 1.3. Refer to comments there. The aroma of the young woman’s oils is more fragrant than any spice. As the woman anointed herself with spiced oils, the significance of his comment can only be guessed at. Perhaps he means to say that she improved the aroma of the spices, or perhaps your oils has a sexual meaning. In any event, a more or less literal translation will be acceptable. The Septuagint here has “your clothes,” probably under the influence of verse 11. We advise against following this minority view. Any spice, from Hebrew “than all spices,” is of course an exaggeration, but this is not surprising, given the young man’s state of mind! We may have to make the basis of comparison clear: “Your perfume smells better than any spice” or “Your oils are more fragrant than any spice.”

There is a rhythmic repetition in this verse which can be rendered if the Hebrew text is followed rather literally:

• How wonderful is your love,
my sister, my bride
How wonderful are your caresses!
They are sweeter than wine!
And the smell of you,
sweeter than any spice!

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 .