The young woman hears her lover apparently trying to enter the room. The phrase put his hand to is the regular Hebrew expression “to stretch out one’s hand.” Normally this is followed by the preposition “on, by,” but in this case we find the preposition min, meaning “from.” With the woman inside the room, the preposition must here mean “in through.” The noun latch is actually “hole” in Hebrew and can refer literally to the window or opening in the wall referred to in 2.9. The meaning then is “my beloved put his hand through the opening” as in New American Bible. He put his hand inside either to beckon her or to touch her.

However, it is widely recognized that hand (yad) has a secondary meaning “penis” (as in the lexicon by Brown, Driver, and Briggs [BDB], for instance); and at least some commentators think the word “hole” has a double meaning as well. The two meanings would be recognized by any Israelite who heard and read these poems. These facts may be included in a footnote, though some readers may be able to catch the secondary meanings of this passage without these helps.

And my heart was thrilled within me: knowing that he is so close makes her anxious; her heart is now pounding wildly. Heart is not the same Hebrew noun as used in verse 2 but is the same noun used in verse 14, where it is translated “body.” The Hebrew actually refers to a person’s internal organs (New English Bible “my bowels”; Jerusalem Bible “the core of my being”), with the sense that this is where emotions originate. Good News Translation merely describes the response as “I was thrilled” without identifying any part of the body. This is quite acceptable.

The translation was thrilled within me depends on a slight alteration to the text, which would give “my insides growled inside because of him.” This colorful description can also be given as “I yearned for him,” as in Jer 31.20. Though the textual change followed by Revised Standard Version and some others does have minor manuscript support, we prefer to follow the original Hebrew text: “I [or, my whole being] longed for him.” If the Revised Standard Version text is followed, then perhaps a footnote indicating the alternative meaning is advisable.

For translation we may suggest:

• My lover put his hand through the opening,
And I was moved in the innermost part of my being.

• My beloved put his hand through the latch,
And my whole being longed for him.*
Footnote: * Some manuscripts have “I was thrilled [or, moved] within me.”

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 .