village

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Song of Solomon 7:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Song of Solomon 7:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “My beloved, come and let us run quickly to those villages
    to go and sleep there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “O my beloved, come let us go walk around in the field.
    And at night we will stay in the village.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Come, my beloved, let- us (incl.) -go to the field/farm, and there we (incl.) will-sleep (where) there-are henna flowers.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You who love me, let’s go to the countryside,
    and sleep among the henna bushes (OR, in one of the villages).” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Song of Songs 7:11

In 4.16 the young woman called on her lover to come into the garden with her. The theme here is similar, though different vocabulary is used.

Let us go forth into the fields: owing to the secret nature of their relationship, the young woman suggests that they meet somewhere away from the town, in the countryside where they can be alone. The Hebrew gives singular “field,” but of course we can use plural fields, “to the country,” or “to the countryside.” New Jerusalem Bible “in the open” is ambiguous, meaning either out-of-doors or in a public place. Because of this it should not serve as a model.

Lodge in the villages: if the two lovers’ intention is to find privacy, then this Revised Standard Version translation may not be adequate. Lodge means they will spend the night somewhere (see notes on 1.13). Villages is the Revised Standard Version way of rendering the Hebrew word, which has a double meaning; it refers to villages out in the countryside, but the same word also refers to the henna bush (1.14). The latter seems the more reasonable sense in this context and is the one preferred by New English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and others. On “henna flower” and its fragrance, see comments in 1.14; 4.13. We suggest using “henna bush” in the text. Alternatively we can translate as “villages” and explain the play on words in a footnote.

For translation we suggest:

• Come, my lover, let us go into the countryside [or, away from the village]; let us spend the night among the henna blossoms [or, among the wild flowers].

• My lover, come, let’s go out into the country.
Let’s spend the night in the villages.*
Footnote: * The word here means either “villages” or “henna bushes” and seems to be a play on words.

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 7:11

7:11–13 The woman invited the man to go with her to the fields and vineyards

In these verses the woman responded to the man’s praise (in 7:1–9a) by inviting him to go out into the fields and vineyards with her to enjoy the springtime. As trees and flowers were blooming, their love for each other was also growing. Here she invited him to go there, as he also invited her in 2:10–13.

In 7:11–13, all the events are probably not arranged in the order that they happened (as is common in poetry). It is also possible that these verses describe the woman’s desires and feelings or a dream that she had before her wedding (3:6–5:1), rather than an event that happened in her life. The exact meaning of 7:11–13 is difficult to determine, but the verses do seem to look forward to the future.

7:11–13 The woman spoke to the man

7:11a

Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside: Here the woman invited the man to go out of the city with her to enjoy the countryside together. He was already with her as she spoke to him, so she was not calling him to come. She wanted him to go with her to the fields.

Some other ways to translate this meaning are:

Come with me, my love, and let’s go out to the fields
-or-
My darling, let’s go to the fields together

In some languages it is more natural to put the phrase my beloved in a different place in the sentence, as in the second example above. Use a natural way in your language to give an invitation like this.

my beloved: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my beloved is the most common way that the woman used to address the man. It first occurred in 1:13. It is good to translate this word in the same way in all the verses where she used it to address him.

to the countryside: Here the woman invited/urged her beloved to go with her into the countryside. She wanted to go there to the fields to see the springtime blossoms and to be alone with the man. Other ways to translate this are:

let us go out into the fields… (Revised English Bible)
-or-
let us go to the countryside… (NET Bible)

7:11b

let us spend the night among the wildflowers: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spend the night does not imply that the man and woman wanted to stay longer than one night. Other ways to translate this meaning are:

let us lodge in the villages. (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
and stay overnight in ⌊one of⌋ the villages.

among the wildflowers: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wildflowers can also mean “henna bushes,” as in 2:14. Scholars differ about what it means here:

(1) It means “villages.” For example:

let us spend the night in the villages. (New International Version)

(2) It means “henna bushes.” For example:

to lie among the henna bushes (Revised English Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), with the majority of English versions. Some scholars think that the meaning “villages” is unlikely, because the man and woman wanted to be alone. However, the villages were not as crowded as the city. The villages were closer to the vineyards and pomegranate trees, so that the man and woman could look at them in the early morning (see the following note in 7:12a).

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