Cantiques 7
1 Que tes pieds sont beaux dans ta chaussure, fille de prince! Les contours de tes hanches sont comme des joyaux, ouvrage des mains d’un artiste.
You who are the daughter of a prince/king, you have lovely feet in your sandals. Your curved hips/thighs are like [SIM] jewels that have been made by a (skilled craftsman/man who shapes jewels very well).
2 Ton nombril est une coupe arrondie, où le vin aromatique ne manque pas; ton ventre, un tas de froment, entouré de lis.
Your navel is [like] [MET] a round bowl that is always full of wine mixed [with spices]. Your waist is [like] [SIM] a mound/bundle of wheat with lilies [growing] around it.
3 Tes deux seins sont comme deux faons jumeaux d’une gazelle.
Your breasts are as [as beautiful] as [SIM] two (fawns/young gazelles).
4 Ton cou est comme une tour d’ivoire; tes yeux sont comme les étangs [qui sont] à Hesbon, vers la porte de Bath-Rabbim; ton nez est comme la tour du Liban, qui regarde vers Damas;
Your neck is like [SIM] a tower [made of] ivory. Your eyes [sparkle/shine like] [MET] the pools in Heshbon [city], near the Bath-Rabbim gate. Your nose is [is as lovely] as [SIM] the tower of Lebanon which faces toward Damascus.
5 ta tête, sur toi, comme le Carmel, et les cheveux de ta tête comme la pourpre. Un roi est enchaîné par [tes] boucles.
Your head is [majestic] like [SIM] Carmel Mountain. Your long hair is shiny [SIM] and black; [it is as though] I, your king, am captured by your tresses.
6 Que tu es belle, et que tu es agréable, mon amour, dans tes délices!
You whom I love, who have many charming features that attract me, are very beautiful and pleasant/pleasing.
7 Ta taille ressemble à un palmier, et tes seins à des grappes.
You are stately like [SIM] a palm tree, and your breasts are like [SIM] clusters/bunches of dates/fruit.
8 J’ai dit: Je monterai sur le palmier, je saisirai ses rameaux; et que tes seins soient comme les grappes de la vigne, et le parfum de ton nez comme des pommes,
I said [to myself], “I will climb that palm tree and take hold of those clusters of dates.” To me, your breasts are like clusters of grapes [that I can feel] and your breath is like the sweet fragrance of apples
9 et ton palais comme le bon vin, … Qui coule aisément pour mon bien-aimé, [et] qui glisse sur les lèvres de ceux qui s’endorment.
and your kisses are like very good wine. My kisses [MTY] go to the one who loves me and flow [like wine] over his lips and his teeth.
10 Je suis à mon bien-aimé, et son désir se porte vers moi.
I belong to the man who loves me, and he desires me.
11 – Viens, mon bien-aimé, sortons aux champs, passons la nuit dans les villages.
You who love me, let’s go to the countryside, and sleep among the henna bushes (OR, in one of the villages).
12 Nous nous lèverons dès le matin, [pour aller] aux vignes; nous verrons si la vigne bourgeonne, si la fleur s’ouvre, si les grenadiers s’épanouissent: là je te donnerai mes amours.
And let’s go early to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded and if there are blossoms on them that have opened, and to see if the pomegranate [trees] are blooming, and there I will make love to you.
13 Les mandragores donnent [leur] parfum; et à nos portes il y a tous les fruits exquis, nouveaux et anciens: mon bien-aimé, je les ai gardés pour toi!
The mandrakes/love-apples are producing a fragrant odor, and we are surrounded by delightful [pleasures] [MET, EUP], new ones and old ones, pleasures that I have been saving to give to you, who love me.
