Song of Solomon 1:8
אם־ לא תדעי לך היפה בנשים צאי־ לך בעקבי הצאן ורעי את־ גדיתיך על משכנות הרעיםס
The Beautiful One within women
If you are not perceiving yourself, the Beautiful One within women,5 go out to yourself in the heels of the Flock and shepherd the self eternal young female goats against the dwelling places of the Shepherds!Footnote:
| Sng. 1:8 | Hebrew בנשים. The use of the prefix -ב is one of an interesting bias as the traditional rendering "among" is actually implying to the reader that the beautiful one is separate or different from all women. Moreover, it also implies all the rest of women are not beautiful. So the bias at work here is of no small consequence. The primary meaning of the preposition ב is in/within. So the most accurate translation is actually thus, "the beautiful one within women" implying that there exists a beautiful one within all women, even right next to the "ugly one" that may be present. |