עַד־שֶׁ֤הַמֶּ֨לֶךְ֙ בִּמְסִבּ֔וֹ נִרְדִּ֖י נָתַ֥ן רֵיחֽוֹ׃
12While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone gone in Song of Songs 1:7 to describe the ease with which the king was reclining. Gone is an ideophone that is normally used for being stretched out or something that is fully relaxed and here refers to a leisurely, luxurious posture. (Source: Ernst Wendland)
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The name “spikenard” seems to be gaining ground over “nard” in global English. The Hebrew and Greek words for spikenard could have referred to a variety of substances from a variety of plants. Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) takes the New Testament spikenard to be the same as the Old Testament one, namely Nardostachys jatamansi from India. Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992) doubts the Indian origin of most biblical spices and suggests that the references in Song of Songs may be to the Camel Grass Cymbopogon schoenanthus, which grows in the deserts of Arabia and North Africa. Assyrians called it lardu. However, if the writing of Song of Songs is late, the Indian origin of spikenard mentioned there is quite possible. The Greek expression nardos pistikos in Mark 14:3 and John 12:3 is rendered “pure nard” by New Revised Standard Version, updated edition, but the meaning of pistikos is debatable. It may in fact come from the Sanskrit picita, the local name of the spikenard plant. In Arabic spikenard is called sunbul Hindi (“Indian spike”).
The spikenard plant is a leafy bush less than a meter (3 feet) high, with fragrant-smelling, short stems and a tuft of three narrow leaflets at the tip of each stem. The pink flowers are umbrella-shaped. The rhizomes (tubers) are pounded to extract pungent, pale orange or yellow oil.
The two references to spikenard in Song of Songs 4:13 and 4:14 are metaphorical, the bride being referred to as a luxurious garden or park filled with all kinds of lovely spice plants and trees. The spikenard there is mentioned first in the plural in Hebrew, paired with a plural form of henna, as though they are plants or trees, or perhaps the fruit of trees. Then its singular form is paired with saffron, followed by calamus and cinnamon. Spikenard was a luxury item in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Rome. A Chinese medical text written around 1100 A.D. notes the calming effect of spikenard incense. It is still used in incense sticks (senko) in China and as a medicine. It is also used in Japan as an ingredient of the incense used in the Plum Blossom Festival. In John 12:3 spikenard is cited as the “costly perfume” used by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, to anoint Jesus.
For the metaphorical references in Song of Songs a cultural equivalent of spikenard is appropriate. The references in Mark and John are of course non-rhetorical and should be translated with a local name for spikenard where possible or transliterated where translators feel it is important to be concordant throughout. A transliteration such as “naridi” is recommended.
Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 1:12:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, suwatteo-rare-ru (座っておられる) or “sitting” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
As the young woman is the one now speaking, we can mark the change of speaker by adding a note in the margin or by some other device.
While the king was on his couch: the preposition While points to the time during which something happens, so While or “During the time when” give the sense well.
Comments on the use of king in Song of Songs will be found at verse 4. This is a metaphor for the young woman’s lover and not a literal reference to Solomon or some royal person.
This verse and verses 2-4 are linked by their emphasis on perfumes and fragrances. A further similarity is that the lovers are obviously in a private place.
Was: the Hebrew text has no verb here. In English and many other languages we need to supply a verb. Revised Standard Version uses the verb of being, was. Good News Translation supplies “was lying.” Both of these translations suggest a past tense, though it is not clear whether this scene is meant to be happening as the young woman speaks, whether it happened in the past, or whether it is something the young woman imagines and hopes for. Jerusalem Bible gives a present tense reading. New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and Nouvelle version révisée render a past tense here and then change to a present tense in verses 13 and 14. We can say “is [or, was] on his couch” or “is [or, was] lying on his couch.”
His couch describes the long low seat on which people reclined for formal occasions or for eating. The unusual noun comes from a root describing something round. The word couch or “bed” is an interpretation based on the context. In many languages “bed” will be the nearest equivalent. Jerusalem Bible “rests in his own room” removes some of the sexual overtones from the word, while New American Bible “For the king’s banquet” and New International Version “at his table” understand the context to be a feast rather than a place where two lovers can be in private. Some versions suggest an enclosure or even a garden (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), perhaps because of the reference to flowers and spices. However, these all have figurative meanings, so “bed” seems the best solution. If finding a word for “bed” or couch is difficult, we can also use simple verbal expressions: “as my king reclined” or “as the king lay down.”
My nard gave forth its fragrance: this is the main clause and may need to be stated first before the time clause. The word nard or “spikenard” is a Sanskrit word that made its way into Hebrew through Persian. It is one of the terms suggested as evidence of Tamil (Indian) influence in Song of Songs. Nard is a perfume originating in northern India and has strong associations with lovemaking. My nard can be rendered “my perfume.” Fox considers it a figure for the lover, as “myrrh” is in verse 13. However, the simile in verses 13-14 is not the same. Here the young woman speaks of her own perfume. Nard almost certainly has a secondary meaning describing the smell of her own body, with strong sexual overtones. Gave forth renders the Hebrew verb quite literally. Good News Translation uses the phrase “filled the air with.” This is a good equivalent. Some languages may use ideophones to express the spreading of a sweet smell. On fragrance see comments on verse 3.
Some possible translations are:
• While my king lay on his bed, my perfume filled the air.
• My king, my lover, lay on his bed; my fragrance filled the air.
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 .
1:12–14 The woman replied to the man
In 1:12–14 the woman replied to what the man said in 1:9–11 about her beauty. Here in 1:12–14 she also admired him and indicated that she desired him. She mentioned the sweet fragrance that was present when they were together. In 1:12 it was the fragrance of the woman’s perfume that affected the man.
In 1:13–14 the woman used two metaphors to compare the man with fragrances. The metaphors imply that the man delighted her like a wonderful fragrance. In these lines she probably imagined or dreamed about being with her beloved. She was probably not actually with him.
1:12a–b
While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance: The clause While the king was at his table (1:12a) tells where the king was while the scent of the woman’s perfume was in the air. In OT times, people reclined, or lay, on couches when they ate, so the Revised English Bible has “While the king reclines on his couch.” Use natural verb forms in your language to describe this. Some ways to do this in English are:
While the king reclines on his couch, my spikenard gives forth its scent. (Revised English Bible)
-or-
My king is sitting at his table, and the scent of my perfume is in the air.
1:12a
the king: In this context the woman used the word king as a poetic term of affection to refer to her beloved. He was not an actual king. It is good to translate the term here as you did in 1:4b. For example:
my chief
-or-
my king
at his table: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as table describes something round. The phrase at his table is more literally “in his circle/round.” Scholars differ about what the word “circle/round” refers to here:
(1) It refers to a “couch.” For example:
his couch (Revised English Bible)
(2) It refers to a “table.” For example:
his table (New International Version)
(3) It refers to “an enclosure,” maybe to his room or to a different enclosed place. For example:
his own room (New Jerusalem Bible)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), as most versions and scholars do. It is possible that the word is another way to refer to the same couch that is mentioned in 1:16c.
1:12b
my perfume spread its fragrance: The Hebrew word translated as perfume in the Berean Standard Bible, is more literally, “nard.” Nard refers to an expensive perfume imported from India. It had a beautiful fragrance, and it seemed to encourage sexual desire in that culture. The clause my perfume spread its fragrance indicates that the smell of the woman’s perfume spread through the air. Everyone around could smell it. Other ways to translate this are:
my perfume fills the air with its fragrance. (God’s Word)
-or-
the smell/odor of my perfume spread throughout the room.
Describe the spreading fragrance of perfume in a way that is natural in your language. In some languages, it may be possible to translate the idea with an idiom that would fit the poetic style.
my perfume: The phrase my perfume refers here to a type of perfumed oil that the woman spread on her body. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:
the perfume ⌊that I rubbed on⌋ my ⌊body⌋
-or-
my expensive nard perfume
perfume: The word perfume refers here to perfumed oil that was made from the nard plant. This plant grows in the Himalaya mountains far away, so the nard oil was rare and expensive in Israel. For more information about the nard plant and a picture of it, see the note on perfume in 4:13c.
General Comment on 1:12
In some languages, a time clause does not occur first in the sentence. So the order of the two clauses in this verse may need to be reversed. For example:
My perfume spread its fragrance while my king was at his table.
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