לְחָיָו֙ כַּעֲרוּגַ֣ת הַבֹּ֔שֶׂם מִגְדְּל֖וֹת מֶרְקָחִ֑ים שִׂפְתוֹתָיו֙ שֽׁוֹשַׁנִּ֔ים נֹטְפ֖וֹת מ֥וֹר עֹבֵֽר׃
13His cheeks are like beds of spices,
yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
In Gbaya, the notion of a peasant smell is emphasized with ɓisisi, an ideophone used to describe pleasant fragrances.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. Since the subject matter of Songs of Songs is particularly conducive to the use of ideophones, there are a total of 30 ideophones in the Gbaya Bible in that short biblical book alone. (Source: Philip Noss)
The interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) uses the ideophone noninoni in Song of Songs 5:13 to emphasize a smooth and slippery substance with a tactile and sensual component (“his lips are like lilies, dripping smooth with liquid myrrh”). (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)
See also my hands dripped with myrrh / my fingers with liquid myrrh.
The Hebrew word bosem, which is often rendered “balm” (derived from “balsam”), can refer to any type of aromatic healing substance, but it also designates the product of a particular tree, the balsam or opobalsamum Commiphora gileadensis. Arabs call it balasam or balasham. In the Talmud it is called afarsimon. Excavations near En Gedi have uncovered an ancient processing plant for balsam oil.
The opobalsamum tree likes a desert or semi-desert climate. It grows to 2‑3 meters (7‑10 feet) tall and has small, wrinkled, three-part leaves, white flowers, and pea-sized red berries that have a fragrant yellow seed inside. The bark of younger branches is gray, turning brown with age. The resin appears by itself in green droplets from the stems and branches, but collectors also make cuts in the branches to speed the process. The droplets turn from green to brown, clump together, and fall to the ground, where they are collected.
In Bible times, balsam oil was used in holy anointing oil, as medicine, and as an ingredient of perfume.
A generic word or phrase for sweet-smelling substances is appropriate to render bosem, although where a specific name for the balsam tree is available, as in southwestern Arabia and Somalia, this could also be used. At least one hundred species of the genus Commiphora are spread throughout dry areas of the world. Translators in some areas will know the plants; others may know only the dried resin of Commiphora sold in spice markets.
Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “myrrh” in English is translated as “bitter medicine” in Michoacán Nahuatl and as “myrrh perfume” in Tzotzil (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.).
In Mark 15:23, Usila Chinantec translates it as “the herb myrrh which is useful so that one not feel pain in his body.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Myrrh is probably the most precious spice in the Bible. It was worth more than its weight in gold. Our experts agree that the Hebrew word mor refers to the resin of one of the Commiphora genus, either myrrha, abyssinica or schimperi, all of which grew in what is now Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Madagascar. Other kinds of myrrh may have come from India (Commiphora erythraea, Commiphora opobalsamum). A more difficult question is the meaning of the word deror in Exodus 30:23. In the other places where it occurs it means “freedom” or “liberty.” This is the basis for the word “liquid” in some versions, but there is no certainty that “free” means “liquid.” The fact that myrrh was sometimes mixed with wine may suggest that deror means “liquid” here, but on the other hand, the weight of the myrrh is given in dry measure rather than liquid measure, which argues against it.
The myrrh plant is a bush or shrub with thick thorny branches that project and bend at odd angles. The leaves come in sets of three. The fruit is oval like a plum. The wood and bark have a pleasant smell. The gum oozes naturally from the branches, though some harvesters incise the branches to increase the flow. The sap or gum is clear or yellowish brown when it comes out, but gets darker as it dries. The taste of the gum is bitter (note the similarity of mor to the Hebrew word mar meaning “bitter”). In markets the gum is often found mixed with that of the kataf bush (bisabol).
God prescribed myrrh as an ingredient of the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23), and it is used as perfume in Esther, Psalms, Proverbs, and eight times in Song of Songs. It was brought as an expensive gift by the Magi to the new King (Matthew 2:11). As Jesus was dying on the cross, sympathetic bystanders may have offered it to him mixed with wine (Mark 15:23; see the parallel account in Matthew 27:34). Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus’ body for burial (John 19:39). In ancient Egypt myrrh was burned on the altars of the sun god, and in Persia it was attached to the crowns of kings when they appeared in public. Romans burned myrrh at funerals and cremations, which helps to explain its inclusion in the list of spices in Revelation 18:13. Today it is used in perfumes, lotions, and even in toothpaste.
Varieties of myrrh grow in the Horn of Africa and Madagascar, so people from those areas should have no difficulty finding words for it. As to whether the myrrh in Exodus 30:23 was liquid or solid, there seems to be no consensus, and the translator may be forgiven for simply ignoring the Hebrew word deror . Possible transliterations are Hebrew mor, Arabic mar, French mireh, and Spanish/Portuguese mirra.
Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)
See also mixture of myrrh with aloes.
The Hebrew in Song of Songs 5:13 that is translated as “lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh” in English is emphasized in Gbaya with the ideophone ɓisisi.
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 different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 5:13:
His cheeks: refer to comments on 1.10; 4.3 (see also 6.7).
Are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance: whereas in 1.10 the young woman’s cheeks were beautiful because of the decorative ornaments she wore, here the young man’s face is described. It is likened to beds of spices. Behind this phrase lies a Hebrew term that is singular in form, but which almost certainly should be read as plural. Manuscript evidence supports this view. We meet the phrase again in 6.2, on which occasion beds is parallel to “garden,” and clearly that is its meaning here also. Good News Translation fills out the comparison, suggesting that the young man’s cheeks are “as lovely as a garden.” We may question this choice of an adjective, however, since the point of the comparison is that the garden is fragrant, not that it is lovely. It is better, then, to say “His face smelled sweet like a garden full of spices” or “His face is [or, His cheeks are] fragrant, like a garden where spices grow.”
On spices refer to comments on 4.10.
Yielding fragrance is the Revised Standard Version rendering of a very difficult expression. The Hebrew text is literally “towers of fragrance.” Fox takes the expression to mean “His cheeks are like beds of spices, [fragrant like] towers of spices.” Pope and others, however, suggest that, rather than meaning “towers,” it is a participle, “growing,” used of plants, children, and hair (Psa 144.12; Num 6.5). We note that the Septuagint also interprets the word as a participle, “producing.” Pope’s translation, “His cheeks like spice beds, burgeoning aromatics,” seems to suggest a sweet-smelling beard. This suggestion makes good sense, but we are still faced with the difficulty of deciding whether the phrase describes the young man’s cheeks or the bed of spices. It is likely that yielding fragrance is an extended metaphor, so we can fill out the metaphor: “The beard on his cheeks is like a sweet-smelling garden.”
His lips are lilies: on the significance of lips, see comments at 4.3, 11. The term lily is discussed in 2.1-2. Although lacking the preposition “like,” it is nevertheless obvious that this is what is being said; “His lips are like lilies” (as Good News Translation). If Pope is correct, then the flower in question, whichever variety it is, is reddish in color. However, the point here is not the color of the young man’s lips but rather the delight his kisses give his lover.
Distilling liquid myrrh: in verse 5 a similar expression was used of perfume dripping from the woman’s hands onto the handles of the door. The verb distilling is literally “drip,” so the picture is of lips that are wet and moist. This can be translated “his lips are as delightful as lilies; they are moist with the finest myrrh,” or for the second clause “… they are like the finest spices to me.”
For the entire verse we can suggest:
• The beard on his cheeks is like
A sweet-smelling garden.
His lips are like the sweetest lilies,
Wet with dripping myrrh.
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 .
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.