Exodus 28:34

28:34 The pattern is to be ¹  a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.

The Song of Songs 4:3

4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread; ² 

your mouth is lovely.

Your forehead ³  behind your veil

is like a slice of pomegranate.

The Song of Songs 4:13

4:13 Your shoots are a royal garden ⁴  full of pomegranates

with choice fruits:

henna with nard,

The Song of Songs 6:7

6:7 Like a slice of pomegranate

is your forehead ⁵  behind your veil.

[28:34]  ¹ tn The words “the pattern is to be” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[4:3]  ² tn The phrase חוּט הַשָּׁנִי (khut hashshani, “thread of scarlet”) is a genitive construct with the genitive functioning adjectivally. This phrase is used three times in classical Hebrew to denote a scarlet colored “thread” or “cord” (Josh 2:18; Song 4:3; 11 QT 49:3) (HALOT 296-97 s.v. חוּט; DCH 3:170-71 s.v. חוּט). This is a comparison of sight, describing the color and shape of her lips.

[4:3]  ³ tn Alternately, “cheek,” or “temple” (see Judg 4:21).

[4:13]  ⁴ sn The noun פַּרְדֵּס (pardes, “garden, parkland, forest”) is a foreign loanword that occurs only 3 times in the Hebrew Bible (Song 4:13; Eccl 2:5; Neh 2:8). The original Old Persian (Avestan) term pairidaeza designated the enclosed parks and pleasure-grounds which were the exclusive domain of the Persian kings and nobility in the Achaemenid period (HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס; LSJ 1308). The Babylonian term pardesu means “marvelous garden,” in reference to the enclosed parks of the kings (AHw 2:833.a and 3:1582.a). The term passed into Greek as παραδείσος (paradeisos, “enclosed park, pleasure-ground”), referring to the enclosed parks and gardens of the Persian kings (LSJ 1308). The Greek term was transliterated into English as “paradise.”

[6:7]  ⁵ tn Alternately, “your cheeks” or “your temple.” See 4:3.