And there is no blemish in thee.
8 With me, with me, my betrothed,
Thou shalt go from Lebanon;
Thou shalt go from the heights of Amana,
From the summit of Shenir and Hermon,
From the habitations of lions,
From the mountains of panthers.
9 Thou hast emboldened me,
My sister, my betrothed,
Thou hast emboldened me,
- dened with her declaration, the shepherd,
crowning and closing his description in the words, "Thou art a perfect beauty," responds, "Thou shalt go with me, I will help thee to quit these lofty heights, the abode of lions and panthers—the royal residence; and safely conduct thee to the place whither thou wouldst go." Lebanon is the name of a long range of mountains on the north of Palestine (Deut. ii. 24; Josh. i. 4), consisting of two parallel chains, which run from south-west to north-east. Though the Scriptures have only one name, viz. Lebanon, for both these chains, yet the present inhabitants of that country, as well as modern Travellers, have found it convenient to call the wester-*most chain, facing the Mediterranean,—Lebanon; and the eastern one, facing the plain of Damascus,—Anti-Libanus, from its being at Tyre, parallel with and opposite to the Syrian Lebanon. Amana, [HE: 'a:monoh], is the name of the southern part of Anti-Libanus, at the root of which, it is supposed, issues the river of the same name; see 2 Kings v. 12. Hermon, [HE: Her^emOvn/], is the name of the highest summit of a chain at the northernmost boundary of Palestine, and belongs also to Anti-Libanus (Josh. xi. 17; xiii. 5), and is now identified with Jebel-el-Sheikh. It consists of several mountains, viz. Sirion, [HE: S/ir^eyvOn/], Shenir, [HE: S/^eniyr], and Sion, [HE: S\iy'On/]; whence its plural name [HE: Her^ebvOniym/], see Fürst, Lexicon, s.v. Lebanon, Amana, Shenir and Hermon are here not intended to denote various parts of the range of mountains, but are merely different names of the royal residence. The word [HE: t.aS/v.riy] is well rendered by the Sept., Syriac, &c., thou shalt go; comp. Isa. lvii. 9. The Common Version look is incompatible with the context and parallelism. Surely no one would invite his beloved to go with him to dangerous mountain-tops, to take a view of the country! Persons are generally anxious to avoid perilous places. The lions and panthers denote the king and his courtiers, Ezek. xix. 7; xxii. 25; Nahum ii. 12. [HE: k.oloh], rendered spouse in the Authorized Version, is taken by some to denote a newly-married woman. The word however only means betrothed = a female under an engagement to marry. This is the sense in which the Jews still use the expression. The Sept., which is followed by the Vulg. and Luther, translates [HE: 'it.iy], [GR: deu=ro], mistaking it for [HE: 'a:tiy], the imp. of [HE: 'ot.oh], to come. The Vulg. rendering of [HE: t.oS/v.riy] by coronaberis, evidently savours of allegorism. For the Septuagint's rendering of [HE: 'a:monoh], by [GR: pi/stis], see Introduction, p. 21.
9. Thou hast put heart into me, &c. This extraordinary amount of strength and courage which he feels, to enable him to rescue her from the abode of the lion, and to lead her safely home, has been infused into his heart, he says, by the sight of his beloved one. So the Anonymous Oxford Manuscript, [HE: SbSbyl 'hbtk/ ntgbrty vnbv' ly lb HdS SyS ly] [HE: kH llHm/ `m/ h'ryvt vhnmrym/]. As the Piel has sometimes an intensive, and sometimes a privative meaning (see Gesen. § 52, 2; Ewald, § 120), a dif-
