Passage

Song of Solomon 6.8

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"6. Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, Which are come up from the washing; Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them. 7. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil."

"8. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And virgins without number."

"9. My dove, my undefiled, is but one; She is the only one of her mother; She is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Terrible as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:6-10, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"6. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; no one is bereaved among them. 7. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil."

"8. There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number."

"9. My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother’s only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10. Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:6-10, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"6. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them. 7. As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks."

"8. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number."

"9. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" (Song of Solomon 6:6-10, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"6. Thy teeth as a row of the lambs, That have come up from the washing, Because all of them are forming twins, And a bereaved one is not among them. 7. As the work of the pomegranate [is] thy temple behind thy veil."

"8. Sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number."

"9. One is my dove, my perfect one, One she [is] of her mother, The choice one she [is] of her that bare her, Daughters saw, and pronounce her happy, Queens and concubines, and they praise her. 10. 'Who [is] this that is looking forth as morning, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, Awe-inspiring as bannered hosts?'" (Song of Solomon 6:6-10, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Betolha vs Almah

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.