complete verse (Song of Solomon 6:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 6:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “My beloved is mine, and I am also his.
    He is grazing his sheep inside where there are flowers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “My beloved is mine and I am his.
    He is walking among the lilies.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “My beloved (is) mine alone/only/[limiting particle], and I (am) his alone/[limiting particle]. He is-grazing his livestock/animals among the lilies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I belong to the one who loves me, and the one who loves me belongs to me;
    he enjoys kissing my lips
    like a shepherd enjoys taking care of his sheep.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

3rd person pronoun with high register (Japanese)

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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.”

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on Song of Songs 6:3

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine: for comments see 2.16, where an almost identical wording is used. We note, however, that there is a significant difference between the two verses. The ordering found in 2.16 (“My beloved is mine and I am his”) is here reversed. The final phrase, my beloved is mine, seems to emphasize the woman’s deep joy and satisfaction that now, at long last, the two lovers truly belong to one another. We also note that, while 2.16 uses pronouns in the second part of the statement, here there is a full chiastic structure.

Such structures often serve as climaxes at the end of sections of discourse. So here the statement signals the triumphant end of the fourth poem. Good News Translation repeats the order of 2.16, thus destroying the significant emphasis that the chiastic structure provides. We suggest translators preserve the Hebrew order.

He pastures his flock among the lilies completes the repetition of 2.16. As this is an exact repetition of 2.16b, it will be well to use exactly the same wording as is used there.

With this concluding refrain we have come to the end of Part Four of the book. We note once again that a major section ends with the couple making love.

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 .