As noted above, this is a very difficult verse, because we cannot immediately identify the speaker or the relationship between the two parts of the verse.

Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?: for a third time “Who?” opens a discourse. But who is asking the question? Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible, and New International Version believe it is the chorus, or the daughters. It appears that the lovers are walking together, and some other person(s) is asking the question. The most reasonable solution is perhaps that the daughters are indeed speaking, as was the case in 3.6.

The Who? question here raises another problem. In other contexts these questions have introduced wasfs or descriptions, or they set a scene for what is to come. Here there is no direct answer to the question. (The same was true in 5.9). Our solution here is to see the question as also setting the scene for what follows by bringing the young woman back into the picture.

Who is that…?: the demonstrative that is feminine singular and is generally thought to point to the young woman, especially when later in the verse there is mention of “her beloved.” The latter phrase indicates that people already know who it is, otherwise they would not know that the person accompanying her was her beloved. If necessary we can make the reference clear: “Who is this young woman coming out of the desert?” If we prefer to use a statement form, we can also say “Here she comes from the desert now, the young woman leaning on her lover’s arm.”

Coming up from the wilderness: see comments on this phrase in 3.6. If the word “desert” can be interpreted in a wide or figurative sense, meaning an empty, private place, we can imagine the lovers returning from their secret meeting together. This image of a couple coming up out of the wilderness may also be related to the shepherd image, which was so prominent in 1.7-8.

Leaning upon her beloved: the Hebrew participle leaning is from a root that occurs only here, so its meaning is uncertain. From related languages we can narrow its sense to “clinging to” or “leaning on.” A general expression like “leaning on [her lover]” or “holding closely to [her lover]” will serve well.

As noted above, the question form here is not a real question, so in many languages it will not be natural or even comprehensible. We can then render the question as an exclamation, expressing surprise or joy, “Look who is coming [back]…!”

Under the apple tree I awakened you: obviously there is a change of speaker here. Translations generally indicate this division by leaving a blank line between the two clauses, as in Revised Standard Version.

Our first question concerns the speaker. If we accept that the introduction in the previous half of the verse is presented by the chorus, then we presume it is one of the lovers speaking here. But which one? The problem is complicated by the fact that there are different versions of the ancient texts. The Hebrew text has first person verbs with masculine pronoun objects, “I awakened you [masculine].” This indicates that the young woman is speaking. However, the Syriac translation (second century A.D.) has feminine object markers, suggesting the young man is speaking. Both views can be found in translations. New English Bible, New American Bible, and Jerusalem Bible present the young man as the speaker, while Good News Translation, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Bible en français courant consider it to be the young woman. If the latter view is accurate, this is the first time the young man’s mother is referred to (see following line). We will follow the Hebrew text and suggest it is the young woman speaking.

We note that this verse is built on grammatical parallelism. Each poetic line begins with a location phrase: “under the apple tree…,” “there…,” “there….”

Apple tree: see comments on 2.3. It refers to a place of lovemaking. A footnote may be required to indicate this sense.

I awakened you: the verb is the same as in verse 4 (and all the other examples of this refrain). It carries the idea of awakening someone from sleep. Though some commentators relate its meaning to “arouse,” it is not explicitly sexual. A general word like awakened or “roused” is adequate. In translation we can say “I roused you from sleep when you were under the apple tree” or “I woke you when you were sleeping under the apple tree.”

There your mother was in travail with you: this is the first of two parallel clauses, each beginning with the adverb There. It presumably refers back to the phrase “under the apple tree.” However, some believe There speaks of the house to which the couple are walking. It is not obvious from the text that they are walking somewhere, and so this must be considered an overinterpretation. The connection between the apple tree and lovemaking is clear in this setting.

Was in travail with you is the attempt of Revised Standard Version to render the Hebrew root, which can mean “get pregnant” as well as “give birth,” but not travail (as Revised Standard Version, New English Bible). The following clause contains a different verb, which is the more precise and recognized term for giving birth. In Psa 7.15 the two verbs occur in association with each other, meaning “conceive” and “give birth” respectively. Therefore “conceive” should be used here in place of in travail with: “it was there that your mother conceived you.”

There she who bore you was in travail repeats the adverb there for parallel effect. She who bore you parallels the noun phrase “your mother.” It is the subject for the verb referred to above (Revised Standard Version travail) that should be rendered “conceived.” For the verb here we can also say “she who gave birth to you.” We can give its meaning as “[there] she who conceived you gave birth to you,” “[there] she gave you birth,” or “[there] you were born.”

Notice that Good News Translation combines both these parallel clauses into one and simply says “in the place where you were born.” The meaning is not lost, but combining phrases like this sacrifices some of the Hebrew poetic balance and expressiveness.

We have little trouble in determining what the individual clauses mean, but it is difficult to know what the point of this whole passage is. Does it mean the mother conceived and gave birth under the apple tree? Even if the mother conceived her child there, it is not very likely that she would actually give birth to a child under the tree. We cannot be sure of the precise meaning of this half of the verse, so we are forced to render the text as it stands. For translation we can say:

• Under the apple tree I woke you,
There where your mother conceived you,
There where she gave birth to you.

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 .