Here we come to another refrain addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem. This one differs from the others, however, both in content and context. In previous passages (2.7; 3.5; 5.1) refrains have occurred when the lovers are locked in embrace. In the first two refrains the daughters are asked not to disturb the love scene. The third refrain encourages the lovers to enjoy their love. Here the scene is completely different; the young woman is alone, and she requests the women of Jerusalem to help find her lover.
The role the refrain plays here is also slightly different from what we have seen before. Previously refrains have been used to end poems. While this present refrain does end the “dream sequence” (5.2-7), it does not end a poem; rather it serves as a link between two subunits. The young woman requests the help of the daughters (5.8), and the daughters respond (5.9). Their response draws out the feelings of the young woman, who goes on to describe her lover (5.10-16). The dialog between the two parties continues in 6.1-3.
Once again we note the literary role of the daughters. They are not actually at the scene of the events described in 5.2-7, nor do they really participate in the story line. Their function in the poem is to move the story along by drawing out the feelings of the main characters.
O daughters of Jerusalem is a vocative form. It may be placed at the beginning of the sentence, if this is the more natural place to introduce the persons addressed: “O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my lover….”
If you find my beloved: a conditional clause introducing the young woman’s request. In some languages a word meaning “when” may be used in such instances to express a condition that will probably occur. Note that the keyword find, occurring in verses 6 and 7, occurs here as well.
That you tell him I am sick with love: the phrase that you tell him is literally “what should you tell him?” The interrogative “What?” may be for emphasis. But many translations, going back to Septuagint times, ignore the fact that the clause begins with “What?” They translate it as a statement rather than as a question.
Fox takes the Hebrew mah (“What?”) to be a negative particle and translates “I ask you to promise … not to tell him that I am sick with love.” He argues that in the refrains in 2.7 and 3.5 there is a negative element present, and so one is required here. Furthermore, in 8.4 and in two other Old Testament passages (1 Kgs 12.16 and Job 16.6), this same word is clearly negative in meaning.
Although there is some justification for Fox’s view, the wider question is whether the young woman is likely to want her lover to know how she feels. Is she really embarrassed about what she feels and has done? Throughout the Song she speaks freely and openly about her longing for him (see 2.5). So we suggest following the traditional interpretation, which can then be translated “If you find my beloved, what should you tell him? Tell him I am sick with love [or, longing] for him.” If this kind of question is not natural in the translator’s language, then it can be replaced with a request formula, such as “If you find my lover, please tell him how deeply I long for him.”
In translating sick we may need to be careful not to give the impression that she is physically unwell or has some disease. Here I am sick is an idiomatic way of saying she longs for his love. We may say “I am dying for his love.” Good News Translation “I am weak from passion” is slightly unnatural in English and does not really convey the meaning here. It should not be used as a model.
With the conclusion of this verse we have reached the end of the dream narrative. It summarizes the young woman’s deep disappointment at not being able to be with her lover.
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 .