Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 2:16:
Kupsabiny: “(my) lover is mine and I am his. He grazes his sheep among the flowers,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “My beloved is mine and I am his. He wanders among the lilies” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “My beloved (is) only mine, and I (am) only his. He causes- his animals -to-graze among the lilies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You who love me, I belong to you and you belong to me, and you experience pleasure when you kiss my lips like a shepherd enjoys taking care of his sheep.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Here there is no doubt as to who is speaking—it is clearly the young woman. If we accept the interpretation of verse 15 suggested above, where the young woman is asking her lover to defend her from other men, then verse 16 flows directly from verse 15. Note, however, that most versions see a break here, in subject matter as well as in speaker.
Verses 16 and 17 are typically grouped together, but there is little evidence for doing so. Though both verses refer to My beloved, verse 16 is a declaration of mutual love, referring to him in the third person, while verse 17 is a call to him. What is clear is that verse 17 recalls the beginning of this poem (2.8-9). One possibility is to group verses 15 and 16 together and to set verse 17 apart as the closing end of the inclusio or bracket. Jerusalem Bible considers verses 15, 16, and 17 as each being semi-independent and separates them from each other.
My beloved is mine and I am his expresses the close relationship of the lovers, the sense that they belong exclusively to one another. A similar but not identical statement is found in 6.3. In Hebrew this line is very poetic. There are only four words, “my-lover to-me and-I to-him,” with a kind of point-counterpoint rhythm, heightened by the repeated sounds i and o.
The Hebrew expresses the young couple’s relationship in terms of “possession” or “ownership,” but this may not be the natural way to express a love relationship in other languages. If necessary we may have to be more specific, “I love my beloved and he loves me,” though this certainly loses some of the impact of the expression. In any event we should try to follow the example of the original, which shows that their love is mutual. Every effort should be made to retain the poetic flavor of this crucial line. For example, the rhythmic “My lover belongs to me and I belong to him” better captures the feeling of their mutual love than “My lover and I belong to each other.”
He pastures his flock among the lilies: there is considerable ambiguity in this brief phrase. Opening the statement is the Hebrew word haroʿeh, which may be a noun with the definite article, “the shepherd,” or a participial phrase, “he who shepherds.” Part of our difficulty is in deciding the meaning of the verb rʿh, for apart from the “shepherding” notion it can also mean “to find pleasure,” “to delight in.” We can also render the meaning as “he delights in,” and New English Bible offers this translation, though Revised English Bible has chosen to use the verb “grazes.” His flock is added by those translations that understand the root to be talking about caring for the sheep, in which case the phrase is contained in the sense of the verb. Thus the root rʿh probably has a double meaning.
On lilies refer to comments on 2.1. It is clear from 5.13 that lilies are symbolic for a woman’s lips, and thus for sexual activity. We can conclude that the more probable meaning of this statement is that the young man delights in feeding on her lips, the “lilies” of her “garden.” The advantage of this interpretation is that it gives a clearer reason for linking the two parts of the verse together; it explains in what way they belong to each other.
Suggested translations are:
• My lover is mine and I am his; he [alone] feeds among the lilies.
• My lover belongs to me and I belong to him; he finds pleasure among the lilies.
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 .
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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 choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
In these verses the woman is probably now outside in the countryside with her beloved.
2:16a
My beloved is mine and I am his: Here the woman probably spoke directly to her beloved. However, she spoke as though she were speaking to someone else about him. In Hebrew poetry it is common to speak that way. In some languages it is more natural to indicate that the woman spoke directly to the man. For example:
My beloved, you are mine, and I am yours.
This statement implies that the man and woman loved each other in a way that they did not love anyone else. Try to find a poetic way to say this. Some other ways to say it in English are:
My beloved, you belong to me, and I belong to you. -or-
My love, you are my own, and I am your own. -or-
You are the one I love, and I am the one you love.
2:16b
he pastures his flock among the lilies: There are two ways to interpret the verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he pastures :
(1) It means “he grazes.” In this context it implies that the man feeds or nourishes himself among lilies. For example:
he grazes among the lilies. (NET Bible)
(2) It means “he pastures (his flock),” and it implies that he feeds his flock. For example:
he pastures his flock among the lilies. (Revised Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The emphasis in this context is on the shepherd himself, not on his sheep. The author does not mention sheep or shepherding anywhere else in this section (2:8–3:5). The author compares the man to a stag in 2:17, so interpretation (1) fits the context well. However, in some languages a literal translation gives a wrong meaning. See the next note for more information.
Because the Berean Standard Bible follows interpretation (2), the NET Bible will be used as the source line in the Display.
(NET Bible) he grazes among the lilies: In Hebrew the phrase he grazes among the lilies literally means that he stands among the lilies and eats them. Figuratively, the woman referred to herself as lilies, as she did in 2:1b. In 2:2 the man compared her to a lily among thorns. Here in 2:16 the woman said that the man feeds himself among the lilies. Figuratively, this means that he was happy and nourished by being with her.
It may be helpful to include a footnote to make this figurative meaning clear. For example:
“Grazing among the lilies” has a figurative meaning here. It probably refers back to 2:1–2 where the woman described herself as a common lily, and the man described her as a lily among thorns. This implies that in 2:16 lilies are also a symbol for the woman. The man enjoys being with her.
This same figure of speech also occurs in 6:3. (Other figurative uses of “lilies” occur in 4:5, 5:13, 6:2 and 7:2. But those figures do not have the same significance as the figures in 2:16 and 6:3.)
In some languages it is necessary to make explicit that the author used a metaphor or simile. It may also be necessary to mention the gazelle and young stag in 2:16, as well as in 2:17. For example:
16a My beloved is mine and I am his.
⌊ 17c Like a gazelle17dor young stag,⌋ 16b he browses among the lilies.
17a Until the day breathes
17b and the shadows flee,
17c turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle 17d or a young stag upon rugged mountains.
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