you have ravished my heart

The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone kwe in Song of Songs 4:9 to describe “being hooked (by love).” Kwe is generally used a sudden catch or jerk and often used for being “hooked” or startled. A possible translation into English of the Chichewa translation might “you have made my heart go snap! (i.e. you’ve captured it completely).” (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)

complete verse (Song of Solomon 4:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 4:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “You have finished my head completely, my maiden,
    you have blinded me completely through love.
    When I throw the eye on that thing you have put on your neck,
    it is like I shall break!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You have enchanted my heart.
    My darling,
    my bride with only one glance of your eyes,
    with only one jewel of your necklace you have enchanted my heart.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “O my beloved girlfriend, you (sing.) have-captured my heart in just one glance and with just one stone of your (sing.) necklace.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “My bride , you who are dearer to me than my sister, you have captured my affection
    by only once quickly looking at me,
    and by one strand of jewels in your necklace.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Song of Songs 4:9

Most likely this verse intends to explain why the young man longs for his lover to come to him. He is thoroughly captivated by her beauty.

Again poetic features are prominent. The first line is repeated and then its sense is developed in the second line—a poetic device called heightening. This draws attention to the line, adds emphasis, and creates a beautiful rhythm. In the last two lines there is also repetition of phrases and grammatical parallelism, so that the structure of the verse is quite neat:

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride
You have ravished my heart
With one look from your eyes
With one jewel from your necklace

You have ravished my heart features a Hebrew verb whose meaning has been uncertain since the very earliest of the ancient translations into Syriac and Latin. The Hebrew root may mean “aroused.” Pope considers this to be the correct sense, based on a usage in the Jewish Mishnah. The same root can mean “inflame” as in Exo 3.2, while other scholars render it “capture.” This latter is similar to usage in Egyptian poems. In view of evidence from other love poems we accept this latter sense, “captured,” as giving the meaning best. Good News Translation is similar with “… have stolen my heart.”

The heart is the center of a person’s being, so the phrase means that the young woman has won the man’s love and affection. Idiomatic phrases in various languages will express this sense appropriately.

My sister, my bride are parallel terms for his beloved. They do not indicate family relationship or married state; both are terms of affection. Note how often the terms are used together in this section—in verses 9, 10, and 12, and in 5.1. In some cultures and social settings, it is possible to refer to a lover as a sister, but in others this is unnatural or even forbidden. If the term will be misunderstood in this context, another term of endearment can be substituted, or the original can be maintained, with a footnote explaining its use in Hebrew culture. For bride see 4.9.

With a glance of your eyes is literally “with one of your eyes” (so Revised English Bible). However, the expression seems very idiomatic, probably meaning something like “with just one glance.” In 1.15 and 4.1 the young man has spoken of the gentleness of his lover’s eyes and their dove-like quality. Here he speaks of the effect these eyes have on him. The idiom itself is very brief, and so we cannot determine exactly what kind of a look she gives him. A more general form is to say “the way you look at me.”

With one jewel of your necklace is linked to the statement about her eyes and shares with it the numeral one. Based on Aramaic usage, we can determine that one jewel actually refers to one strand of beads rather than one bead on a strand. This fits well with the figure in verse 4 about the necklace of many strands, which the young woman is wearing.

We can take a more meaning-based approach in translating this:

• My sister, my bride, the way you look at me, the necklace you wear, these make me love you.

Or we can remain closer to the form of the Hebrew text and say:

• You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride!
You have captured it with just one glance,
With just one strand of your necklace.

• You have stolen my heart, my dearest, my bride
You have stolen my heart,
With one look from your eyes
With one bead from your necklace.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Song of Songs 4:9

4:9a

You have captured my heart: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as captured my heart is more literally “you heart-ed me” (the word “heart” is used as a verb). The word can have different meanings in different contexts. Here it describes a person who is overcome by strong feelings of love. It may imply that the man felt physically weak when he looked at the woman because of the intense love and excitement he felt.

Languages have different ways to describe a lover who feels overcome by his feelings for his beloved. Consider whether your language has an idiom or figure of speech to describe this. Some other ways to translate 4:9 are:

I am helpless to stop feeling this love for you. When you look at me for one moment or if I see one bead from your necklace, I feel overcome with love.
-or-
When you glance at me, I feel weak with feelings of love. I am overcome with love just by seeing one of your necklaces.

In many languages there are idioms to describe this feeling. It combines both helplessness and pleasure. The woman also described that type of feeling in 2:5c where she said, I am sick with love. Her love was so strong that she could describe it as a type of pleasurable “sickness.”

my sister: The term my sister is used in a figurative way here to express affection. The woman was not literally his sister or other relative, but she was as dear to him as a sister. This type of figurative usage was common in the man’s culture at that time. In some languages it gives a wrong meaning for the man to call the woman his sister. If that is true in your language, some options for translation are:

• Substitute a different term for sister. For example:

my treasure (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
my very own (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
my love

• Use a simile. For example:

My bride, ⌊you are as dear to me as a⌋ sister.

• Use only the term my bride and add an expression of affection. For example:

My beloved bride

In some languages it may be necessary to put the phrase “my sister, my bride” at the beginning of 4:10. For example:

My sister, my bride, how wonderful is your love!

my bride: For a discussion of my bride, see 4:8a–b.

4:9b

you have stolen my heart: This phrase in 4:9b exactly repeats the phrase from 4:9a. The repetition adds emphasis, as 4:8b adds emphasis to 4:8a. It emphasizes that the woman has caused the man to be overcome by strong feelings of love. For more information, see the note on 4:8a–b. You could these two phrases in the same way, or emphasize this meaning in a natural way in your language. For example:

you truly have captured my heart

4:9c–d

with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck: In Hebrew the phrase with one glance of your eyes is literally “with one from your eyes.” It probably refers to when the woman looked briefly at him. Even when the woman looked at him only for a moment, he felt intense love. This implies that a longer gaze could totally overpower him. The Song has already mentioned the beauty of the woman’s dove-like eyes (1:15 and 4:1). For translation examples, see the note on 4:9a.

4:9d

with one jewel of your neck: This phrase means that the woman wears a jewel on her neck, in the form of jewelry like a necklace or pendant. This phrase adds information to the phrase “You have captured my heart.” In some languages it is natural to repeat the phrase here. For example:

with one jewel of your neck, you have captured my heart.

There is a figure of speech here that intensifies the impact (as in 4:9c–d). It implies that if just one jewel on her neck was enough to ravish his heart, seeing all of her beauty totally overpowered him.

one jewel of your neck: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as jewel is singular. This singular form occurs only here in the OT. (The plural form occurs in two other verses in the OT and refers to objects that hang around a person’s neck.) Most English versions translate the meaning “one jewel/bead.” For example:

a single bead of your necklace (New Living Translation (1996))

However, if necklaces with more than one strand are common in your culture, then “one strand” is also acceptable.

© 2017 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.