The Song of Songs 8:10

The Beloved: I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. ¹  Then I found favor ²  in his eyes. ³ 

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.

"I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

Young Woman: "I am chaste, and I am now full breasted. And my lover is content with me.

Dear brothers, I'm a walled-in virgin still, but my breasts are full--And when my lover sees me, he knows he'll soon be satisfied.

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then was I in his eyes as one to whom good chance had come.

I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.

THE SHULAMITE I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace.

The Beloved: I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. ¹  Then I found favor ²  in his eyes. ³ 

¹ sn The noun מִגְדָּל (migdal, “tower”) can refer to the watchtowers of a fortified city (2 Kgs 17:9; 18:8; 2 Chr 26:9), projecting median towers along the fortified city wall which were crucial to the defense of the city (2 Chr 14:6; 26:15; 32:5), or fortress towers in the countryside set for the defense of the land (Judg 9:52; 2 Chr 27:4; Ezek 27:11) (HALOT 544 s.v. I מִגְדָּל). The Beloved mixes metaphors by describing her breasts with a comparison of sense and a comparison of sight: (1) Comparison of sense: She successfully defended her virginity and sexual purity from seduction, as fortress towers defended the city. (2) Comparison of sight: Just as the fortress towers along a city wall projected out at the corners of the wall, the Beloved’s breasts finally developed into beautiful “towers” (see 8:8 when she had no breasts as a young girl).

² tn Heb “peace.” An eloquent wordplay is created by the use of the noun שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace, favor”) in 8:10b and the name שְׁלֹמֹה (shÿlomoh, “Solomon”) in 8:11a. The Beloved found “favor” (שָׁלוֹם) in the eyes of Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה). She won his heart because she was not only a beautiful young woman (“my breasts were like fortress towers”), but a virtuous woman (“I was a wall”).

³ tn Heb “Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.”