Here after a long silence we hear the voice of the young woman. She responds to her lover’s praise by an invitation to “come into the garden.” Like those before it, this verse is also well crafted, including parallelism and a heavy use of similar sounds. In the first line of the verse, four out of eight words end in the sound -i.

Awake, O north wind: in the first of two parallel imperatives, the young woman calls on the wind to carry the fragrance of her garden to her lover so that he will be aroused by her scent and hurry to be with her. Awake is from the Hebrew root meaning “to arouse.” Using the verb “wake” with the noun “wind” may be unnatural in some languages and so may require a more appropriate verb like “start blowing.” Since this entire clause is parallel with the following come, O south wind, we can combine lines and retain the more natural of the verbs, come: “Come, North and South Winds.”

The north wind is the one that blows from the north, though here the actual geographical reference or the direction is not the focus. This is clear from the following reference to the wind from the south. The two compass points are merely poetic decoration. The noun wind in this and the following phrase is understood from the context; the Hebrew text does not have it. Translators should follow Revised Standard Version and others and insert wind. In many languages there will not be single words for north or south, but there will always be expressions that refer to the same thing, such as “wind coming from the left” or “from the right.” If the translation proves too difficult, we can use a more general phrase, “Come, winds, and blow [from every direction].”

Come, O south wind calls the wind from the south to blow.

Blow upon my garden: it is from this third imperative, Blow, that we can be certain that the words north and south refer to wind. Jerusalem Bible suggests “breathe over,” but this does not seem to convey the idea that the wind should carry the young woman’s scent toward her lover. The absence of a preposition with the noun garden means one has to be supplied. We can use “through” or “over.”

The mention of my garden is crucial here. In this line the garden belongs to the young woman, but in the next she shows that she is offering her garden to her lover: “Let my lover come into his garden.”

Let its fragrance be wafted abroad is literally “let its spices flow.” The sense is that the spicy fragrance of her body and perhaps also her clothes (verse 11) might be blown in her lover’s direction, not just that the air will be filled with fragrance.

Let my beloved come to his garden: this expresses her longing for her lover; she invites him to enjoy her, the delights of her garden. His garden refers to the garden kept for him to enjoy. As noted above, the shift from my garden to his garden is very significant, as she indicates that she belongs to him and is offering herself to him.

Eat its choicest fruits: for comments on its choicest fruits, see notes on verse 13. To eat can also be rendered “enjoy” or “taste,” which are broader and able to include the idea of lovemaking.

For translation we can say:

• Start to blow [or, Arise], O wind from the north,
Come, O wind from the south.
Blow through my garden
and carry the scent of its spices.
Let my lover come to his garden
and enjoy its fine fruit.

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 .