Text -- The Song of Songs 6:3 (NET)

Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession

6:3 The Beloved about Her Lover: I am my lover’s and my lover is mine; he grazes among the lilies.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Sos 6:3

¹ sn This is the second occurrence of the poetic refrain that occurs elsewhere in 2:16 and 7:11. The order of the first two cola are reversed from 2:16: “My beloved is mine and I am his” (2:16) but “I am my beloved’s and he is mine” (6:3). The significance of this shift depends on whether the parallelism is synonymous or climactic. This might merely be a literary variation with no rhetorical significance. On the other hand, it might signal a shift in her view of their relationship: Originally, she focused on her possession of him, now she focused on his possession of her.

² tn Or “I belong to my beloved, and my lover belongs to me.” Alternately, “I am devoted to my beloved, and my lover is devoted to me.”