The Most Beautiful Among Women — Song of Songs 1:8
“O most beautiful among women,
if you do not know,
go out, following the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the dwellings of the shepherds.”
(Song of Songs 1:8, translated from the Japanese New Japanese Bible 2017)
In verse 7, she asked,
“Tell me, please.”
“Where do you pasture your flock?”
Then we come to verse 8.
This time, an answer comes back.
The Hebrew Text
אִם־לֹא תֵדְעִי לָךְ
(im-lo tede‘i lakh)
“If you do not know,”
הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים
(hayyafah bannashim)
“O most beautiful among women.”
צְאִי־לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן
(tse’i-lakh be‘iqvei hatson)
“Go out, following the tracks of the flock.”
וּרְעִי אֶת־גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ
(ur‘i et-gediyyotayikh)
“Pasture your young goats.”
עַל מִשְׁכְּנוֹת הָרֹעִים
(‘al mishkenot haro‘im)
“Beside the dwellings of the shepherds.”
The voice has changed.
Verse 7:
הַגִּידָה לִּי
“Tell me, please.”
Verse 8:
אִם־לֹא תֵדְעִי
“If you do not know.”
Her question receives an answer.
And תֵדְעִי is second-person feminine singular.
Then comes:
הַיָּפָה בַּנָּשִׁים
(hayyafah bannashim)
“O most beautiful among women.”
The words are addressed to a woman.
At the very least, we can see that a voice other than the woman who has been speaking through verse 7 is now speaking to her in verse 8.
But...
Who is answering her?
Verse 8 gives us no name.
Is it a man?
A group of people?
Whose voice is this?
The text does not tell us the name of the speaker.
Again. (laughs)
And then something rather interesting happens.
In verse 7, she asked,
“Where do you pasture your flock?”
The answer in verse 8 is:
צְאִי־לָךְ
(tse’i-lakh)
“Go out.”
בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן
(be‘iqvei hatson)
“Following the tracks of the flock.”
And then:
וּרְעִי אֶת־גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ
(ur‘i et-gediyyotayikh)
“Pasture your young goats.”
In verse 7, she had asked,
“Where do you pasture your flock?”
But in verse 8, she is told,
“You too, go out and pasture your young goats.”
The woman who was looking for him is now being urged to take her own young goats and go out into the open country.
She asked,
“Where?”
But instead of being given a location,
she was told,
“Go out.”
In other words, the man she is looking for has still not been found, and now she is the one being told to walk.
...What?
In verse 7:
I thought he was a king, and now he’s tending sheep.
By the time we reach verse 8,
what comes back is not his whereabouts,
but a voice sending her out.
And in her hands are:
גְּדִיֹּתַיִךְ
(gediyyotayikh)
“your young goats.”
And farther ahead are “the shepherds.”
At the end of the verse:
מִשְׁכְּנוֹת הָרֹעִים
(mishkenot haro‘im)
“the dwellings / tents of the shepherds.”
הָרֹעִים
is plural: “the shepherds.”
In verse 7,
“Where do you pasture?”
She was searching for one “you.”
But in verse 8, suddenly there are:
the flock
your young goats
the shepherds
...The world of sheep suddenly opens up around her.
And this brings verse 5 back to mind.
“Like the tents of Kedar.”
כְּאָהֳלֵי קֵדָר
(ke’oholei Qedar)
כְּ־
(ke) — “like / as”
אָהֳלֵי
(oholei) — “tents of” (plural construct)
קֵדָר
(Qedar) — “Kedar”
Then in verse 8:
“the dwellings / tents of the shepherds”
מִשְׁכְּנוֹת הָרֹעִים
(mishkenot haro‘im)
In verse 6, she was a keeper of vineyards.
In verses 7–8, the landscape fills with sheep, young goats, and shepherds.
The world around her is becoming more and more an outdoor world.
She went looking for him,and was told, “Pasture your young goats.”
She asked,
“Where are you?”
And the answer that came back was:
“Go out, following the tracks of the flock.”
“Pasture your young goats.”
No one simply tells her,
“He is here.”
Follow the tracks.
That is interesting.
She asked, “Where?” and the answer was, “Follow the tracks.”
It feels as though, in this forest of the Song of Songs where I could so easily lose my way,
I have finally found a trail to follow...
In verse 7, I seemed to be standing out in the open country.
In verse 8, another voice sends me farther in.
Having come this far, now I am being made to walk.
And I must not forget today’s title:
“O most beautiful among women.”
In verse 6, she said,
“Do not look at me.”
But in verse 8, another voice calls her,
“O most beautiful among women.”
The woman who said, “Do not look at me,”
is called “the most beautiful among women.”
That much is simply there in the text.
She asked,
“Where?”
What came back was not a place,
but a path to follow.
In this forest of the Song of Songs, where I feel as though I might lose my way,
perhaps I have finally found some footprints beneath my feet.
For today,
I’ll stop here, at these tracks.
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