Old Testament · Poetry

Song of Solomon 7

The Dance

How beautiful your sandaled feet, O noble daughter. The beloved is described from feet to head — admiration without shame.

King James Version BSB KJV

1How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

2Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

3Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

4Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

5Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

6How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

7This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

8I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;

9And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

10I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.

11Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.

12Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.

13The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

Understand This

Song of Solomon 7, explained

What Song of Solomon 7 is saying

Another elaborate wasf describes the beloved from foot to head (reversing the chapter 4 pattern), celebrating her dance and physical beauty with uninhibited imagery. The beloved responds with desire to give herself fully: 'I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.' She invites him to the countryside to share their love.

The background behind it

The Shulammite dance (v. 1) may reference a specific wedding dance tradition. The reversal of the wasf direction (foot to head rather than head to foot) and the increasingly intimate imagery suggest a progression in the relationship toward consummation.

Themes running underneath

Mutual desire and mutual belonging characterize healthy love. The beloved's declaration 'his desire is for me' uses the same Hebrew word (teshuqah) as Genesis 3:16, subtly suggesting that redeemed love restores what the fall distorted. Physical intimacy is celebrated as part of love's fullness.

Why it still matters

The mutuality of desire and the beloved's agency in initiating intimacy provide a biblical model of sexual love as shared gift rather than one-sided possession.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.