7:16 I have spread my bed with elegant coverings, 3
with richly colored fabric 4 from Egypt.
7:17 I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
57:7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;
you go up there to offer sacrifices.
2:8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;
they do so right 5 beside every altar!
They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;
they do so right in the temple 6 of their God! 7
6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, 8
and sprawl out on their couches.
They eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the middle of the pen.
1 sn The finest linen was byssus, a fine, costly, white fabric made in Egypt, Palestine, and Edom, and imported into Persia (BDB 101 s.v. בּוּץ; HALOT 115-16 s.v. בּוּץ).
2 tn The Hebrew noun מִטָּה (mittah) refers to a reclining couch (cf. KJV “beds”) spread with covers, cloth and pillow for feasting and carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos 3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8). See BDB 641-42 s.v.; HALOT 573 s.v.
3 tn Heb “with spreads.” The sentence begins with the cognate accusative: “with spreads I have spread my bed.” The construction enhances the idea – she has covered her bed.
4 tn The feminine noun means “dark-hued stuffs” (BDB 310 s.v. חֲטֻבוֹת). The form is a passive participle from a supposed root II חָטַב (khatav), which in Arabic means to be of a turbid, dusky color mixed with yellowish red. Its Aramaic cognate means “variegated”; cf. NAB “with brocaded cloths of Egyptian linen.” BDB’s translation of this colon is unsatifactory: “with dark hued stuffs of yarn from Egypt.”
5 tn The words “They do so right” are supplied twice in the translation of this verse for clarification.
6 tn Heb “house.”
7 tn Or “gods.” The Hebrew term אֱלֹהֵיהֶם (’elohehem) may be translated “their gods” (referring to pagan gods), “their god” (referring to a pagan god, cf. NAB, NIV, NLT), or “their God” (referring to the God of Israel, cf. NASB, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “beds of ivory.”