This verse consists of two parallel clauses in which a conditional particle If introduces a metaphor about the “little sister.” It is followed by a description of what will be done for her.

The meaning of the metaphors wall and door has been debated for some time. Many commentators take this passage to mean the brothers want to protect their sister’s virginity; “building” and “enclosing” are taken in this sense. Good News Translation translates the latter portion as “If she is a gate, we will protect her with panels of cedar.” However, silver and cedar are signs of splendor and wealth. So another possible interpretation is that these items will be used to highlight the little sister’s beauty, to “decorate” her in preparation for marriage, rather than to “protect” her from her suitors.

If she is a wall: the Hebrew phrase commences with a particle (If) which Fox suggests functions as an interrogative: “Is she a wall? We’ll build on it a silver turret.” Actually, whether the phrase is a conditional or an interrogative form, the meaning is the same; it refers to information that the speakers believe to be true. We can use conditional “If,” or we can use the interrogative form “Is she…?”

Revised Standard Version adds the verb is since the Hebrew only has “wall she.” Presumably this indicates that the little sister is being compared to a wall. However, the point of the comparison is not immediately clear. Most commentators take the wall to be defensive, for the protection of those inside it. At the same time they see both figures, “wall” and “door,” as meaning the young woman must be kept pure. But if she is like a wall, logically speaking she is the one protecting others, and not the one being protected.

Actually the solution is probably quite simple. Verse 8 has just said that the little sister has no breasts. To compare her to a wall or to a door is to compare her to two flat surfaces. Either she is too young to have full breasts, or, being fully mature, her breasts are thought to be too small for her to be attractive. Thus the speakers say they will decorate her, to make her ready for marriage. This answers the question in verse 8 about what to do to help her. Curiously few commentators make this suggestion, though its meaning has certainly been obvious to generations of young girls waiting to grow up! We can make this comparison clear in our translation: “Is she flat like a wall?” This highlights the teasing tone that is certainly present here. However, in a language like English this wording is almost too humorous for the overall tone of the book, so we can say “Is she like a wall?” and let the readers make their own assumptions.

We will build upon her a battlement of silver answers the question asked in verse 8; it describes what the speakers will do for the little sister. They will build upon her or “over her.” The battlement refers to the top row of stones used in the building of walls (see 1 Kgs 6.36, where it describes the Temple walls). To construct them of silver indicates they are not meant for protection. The metaphor has to do with highlighting her beauty and perhaps making her appear sexually mature. New International Version and Good News Translation have “towers,” while New American Bible and New English Bible think of them as a “parapet.” Jerusalem Bible has “crest.” The term describes a decoration on the top of the wall of a house or city, as in 4.4. For translation we suggest “We [I] will decorate the wall with silver towers.”

If she is a door follows the structure of the first part of this verse, with its opening conditional particle if followed by a noun clause. Here the noun door refers to the door itself, not the doorway. Most commentators discuss whether the door is open or closed, taking the figure to be another reference to the sister’s purity. As seen above, however, it makes much more sense to recognize that, like a wall, a door is a flat surface.

We will enclose her with boards of cedar: this is the second and parallel description of what the speaker(s) will do for the little sister. It is the focus phrase, just as “silver battlements” was above. There are several problems here. The first is the verb enclose, which is generally assumed to come from the Hebrew verb meaning “besiege.” Jerusalem Bible therefore says “board her up with,” in the sense of enclosing her behind boards. New American Bible uses “reinforce,” while Fox suggests “to panel it.” This latter expresses the idea of decoration, which we consider to be the proper sense here. One standard Hebrew dictionary (BDB) suggests that there are three different verbs with the same root, with one of these verbs having a meaning “fashion, delineate,” or more precisely “design” or “decorate.” Such a sense is fully consistent with the present context and is the understanding reflected in early versions such as the Septuagint, which here uses the verb “carve” or “decorate.”

Cedar: an imported and expensive wood from Lebanon (5.15), used mainly for construction of special buildings such as palaces and temples. This suggests again that the purpose is decorative rather than to protect the little sister.

We may translate as “If she is a door, we [I] will decorate her with cedar,” or “If she is [flat] like a door, we will decorate her with cedarwood.”

We will want to capture the parallelism in this verse by translating both clauses in a similar manner. We can say:

• Is she a wall? We’ll build silver towers on it!
Is she a door? We’ll fashion it with cedar.

• If she is flat like a wall, we’ll build silver towers on it!
If she is flat like a door, we’ll carve designs in cedar!

For clarity or naturalness it may be necessary to break the extended metaphor and mention the little sister in the second part of each line. We may also have to make the sense clearer, that is, that her breasts are very small:

• If she is flat, we’ll build for her towering breasts of silver.
If she has no breasts, we’ll decorate her with cedarwood.

Removing the metaphor robs the passage of its uniqueness and light humor. It is important to note as well that, if we do omit the figures of “door” and “wall,” we will have to do the same in the following verse.

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 .