Song of Solomon 7:1-10, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Song of Solomon 7:1-10
A Toe-to-Head Wasf and the Woman's Reply
A second wasf starts from sandaled feet, as if she has been dancing
How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince's daughter. Thighs like jewels, navel a rounded bowl that does not lack mixed wine, belly a heap of wheat set about with lilies, breasts twin gazelles, neck an ivory tower, eyes pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim, nose the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus, head Carmel, hair like purple; a king is held in the tresses. The gaze now travels upward from motion. The images are frankly bodily. They are still poetry addressed to her, not instructions for handling her.
He would climb the palm; she names whose desire it is
He says her stature is a palm, her breasts clusters. He said, I will go up the palm, I will take hold of its boughs; her breasts like vine-clusters, the scent of her breath like apples, her mouth like the best wine. The wine-line turns: it goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth. Then she speaks the pairing again, with a new clause: I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.
She does not vanish into his climbing speech. She interprets the want as toward her, and she claims the belonging from her side. Desire is named; it is not a blank check to climb.
How this should shape us
Keep her mouth in the room when a body is described. Do not harvest this wasf for technique, and do not hear 'his desire is toward me' as a command that she must always meet it.
Teach it back
Explain Song of Solomon 7:1-10 in your own words. Include its lyric movement, one material uncertainty, and one coercive or reductive use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The dance setting, anatomy, exact speaker transition, erotic intensity, and relation of teshuqah to Genesis remain disputed. The man's desire and the woman's responding voice are textually prominent.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Song of Solomon 7:1-10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 7:1-10
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1253-1256, translation and notes on 7:1-10
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 7:1-10
Supports: Sensory metaphor, wasf, mutual desire, garden imagery, and the limits of literalizing erotic poetry.
Van der Merwe, 'The erotic power of metaphor,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-9, especially pp. 4-7; applied to 7:1-10
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 7:1-10
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Song of Solomon 7:1-10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 7:1-10
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: The Song of Songs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1253-1256, translation and notes on 7:1-10
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
The Song of Solomon
Athalya Brenner
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Exact location: Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 7:1-10
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Erotic fantasy, spirituality and Song of Songs
Dirk G. van der Merwe
Verbum et Ecclesia 38.2, 2017
Supports: Sensory metaphor, wasf, mutual desire, garden imagery, and the limits of literalizing erotic poetry.
Exact location: Van der Merwe, 'The erotic power of metaphor,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-9, especially pp. 4-7; applied to 7:1-10
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Is the woman in the Song of Songs really that free?
S. S. Ndoga and H. Viviers
HTS Teologiese Studies 56.4, 2000
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Exact location: Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 7:1-10
Open source ↗