Here there is no doubt as to who is speaking—it is clearly the young woman. If we accept the interpretation of verse 15 suggested above, where the young woman is asking her lover to defend her from other men, then verse 16 flows directly from verse 15. Note, however, that most versions see a break here, in subject matter as well as in speaker.

Verses 16 and 17 are typically grouped together, but there is little evidence for doing so. Though both verses refer to My beloved, verse 16 is a declaration of mutual love, referring to him in the third person, while verse 17 is a call to him. What is clear is that verse 17 recalls the beginning of this poem (2.8-9). One possibility is to group verses 15 and 16 together and to set verse 17 apart as the closing end of the inclusio or bracket. Jerusalem Bible considers verses 15, 16, and 17 as each being semi-independent and separates them from each other.

My beloved is mine and I am his expresses the close relationship of the lovers, the sense that they belong exclusively to one another. A similar but not identical statement is found in 6.3. In Hebrew this line is very poetic. There are only four words, “my-lover to-me and-I to-him,” with a kind of point-counterpoint rhythm, heightened by the repeated sounds i and o.

The Hebrew expresses the young couple’s relationship in terms of “possession” or “ownership,” but this may not be the natural way to express a love relationship in other languages. If necessary we may have to be more specific, “I love my beloved and he loves me,” though this certainly loses some of the impact of the expression. In any event we should try to follow the example of the original, which shows that their love is mutual. Every effort should be made to retain the poetic flavor of this crucial line. For example, the rhythmic “My lover belongs to me and I belong to him” better captures the feeling of their mutual love than “My lover and I belong to each other.”

He pastures his flock among the lilies: there is considerable ambiguity in this brief phrase. Opening the statement is the Hebrew word haroʿeh, which may be a noun with the definite article, “the shepherd,” or a participial phrase, “he who shepherds.” Part of our difficulty is in deciding the meaning of the verb rʿh, for apart from the “shepherding” notion it can also mean “to find pleasure,” “to delight in.” We can also render the meaning as “he delights in,” and New English Bible offers this translation, though Revised English Bible has chosen to use the verb “grazes.” His flock is added by those translations that understand the root to be talking about caring for the sheep, in which case the phrase is contained in the sense of the verb. Thus the root rʿh probably has a double meaning.

On lilies refer to comments on 2.1. It is clear from 5.13 that lilies are symbolic for a woman’s lips, and thus for sexual activity. We can conclude that the more probable meaning of this statement is that the young man delights in feeding on her lips, the “lilies” of her “garden.” The advantage of this interpretation is that it gives a clearer reason for linking the two parts of the verse together; it explains in what way they belong to each other.

Suggested translations are:

• My lover is mine and I am his; he [alone] feeds among the lilies.

• My lover belongs to me and I belong to him; he finds pleasure among the lilies.

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 .