Song of Solomon 3:10

the pillars thereof The supports of the canopy or roof.

the bottom thereof Rather, the back, that upon which one leans. Cp. LXX ἀνάκλιτον, Vulg. reclinatorium.

the covering of it the seat of it.

purple i.e. the seat of it is upholstered with purple, argâmân. This is the redpurple, which is sometimes so dark as to be almost black. It is to be distinguished from the violet or cerulean purple which is těkhçleth. Both words are found in Assyrian inscriptions as argamannuand takiltu. Attempts to derive argâmânfrom a Heb. root are practically abandoned, and Benary's suggestion that it is the Sanscrit râgaman= -red," an adj. derived from râga, -red colour," with the formative syllable mator vat(cp. Addit. Ges. Thes. p. 90), is probable; more especially as the Aramaic form of the word, argěwân, can be explained by another adj. form of the same word, viz. râgavan, which is identical in meaning with râgaman.

the midst thereof being pavedwith love, for the daughters of Jerusalem This is a very difficult phrase to understand, and it has been very variously interpreted. The A.V. can hardly be right in rendering -love forthe daughters of Jerusalem," for the preposition is minwhich cannot mean for. The R.V. has, more correctly, from the daughters of Jerusalem.

pavedwith love Lit. paved as to love, the word being an adv. accus. The translation is grammatically correct. (Cp. Davidson, Synt. § 78, R. 2.) But what does -paved with love from the daughters of Jerusalem" mean? Gesenius in his Thes. translates, "paved in a lovely manner by the daughters of Jerusalem," but besides that the prep. mincannot be used for the causa efficienswith the passive, the word -love" is not found elsewhere in such a sense. Del. translates, made up as a bed, from love on the part of the daughters of Jerusalem, and explains it to mean that they, from love to the king, have procured a costly tapestry which they have spread over the purple cushion. Oettli, following the LXX, takes loveto mean, -a mark of love," and translates, "the middle of it adorned as a mosaic, a love-gift on the part of the daughters of Jerusalem." Budde would change the order of the words, and reading hôbhânîm= -ebony" for ahăbhâh= -love," would translate, "its seat is inlaid with ebony, its centre purple." If the text is corrupt this may perhaps have been its original form. But of the text as it stands Delitzsch's rendering seems to be the best, except that wrought as a mosaicwould be better than made up as a bed.