Daniel 10:3

10:3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine came to my lips, ¹  nor did I anoint myself with oil ²  until the end of those three weeks.

Psalms 45:11

45:11 Then ³  the king will be attracted by ⁴  your beauty.

After all, he is your master! Submit ⁵  to him! ⁶ 

The Song of Songs 7:10

Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession

The Beloved about Her Lover:

7:10 I am my beloved’s,

and he desires me! ⁷ 

[10:3]  ¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

[10:3]  ² sn Anointing oneself with oil (usually olive oil) was a common OT practice due to the severity of the Middle Eastern sun (cf. Ps 121:6). It was also associated with rejoicing (e.g., Prov 27:9) and was therefore usually not practiced during a period of mourning.

[45:11]  ³ tn After the preceding imperatives, the jussive verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive is best understood as introducing a purpose (“so that the king might desire your beauty”) or result clause (see the present translation and cf. also NASB). The point seems to be this: The bride might tend to be homesick, which in turn might cause her to mourn and diminish her attractiveness. She needs to overcome this temptation to unhappiness and enter into the marriage with joy. Then the king will be drawn to her natural beauty.

[45:11]  ⁴ tn Or “desire.”

[45:11]  ⁵ tn Or “bow down.”

[45:11]  ⁶ sn Submit to him. The poet here makes the point that the young bride is obligated to bring pleasure to her new husband. Though a foreign concept to modern western culture, this was accepted as the cultural norm in the psalmist’s day.

[7:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “his desire is for me” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).