harvest; properly the time when the fruit is gathered. ‏חָרִישׁ‎, the time of ploughing. Gesen. § 84, 5; Ewald, § 149 e. The cooing of the turtle, &c. The turtle-dove is a migratory bird (Jer. viii. 7; Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. 3, 12, 16; Pliny, Hist. Nat. x. 36; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v.); it resides in the winter farther south than Palestine, and returns in the spring, when its cooing voice in the woods announces the return of that season. 13. The fig-tree sweetens her green figs. The word ‏חָנַט‎ is now rendered by many commentators, according to the example of Ibn Ezra, to sweeten, to embalm, to spice; i.e. the fig-tree sweetens her fruit by filling it with aromatic juice. This rendering is confirmed by the use of ‏חָנַט‎, to embalm (Gen. l. 2, 26), which was done with spices and aromatic plants (2 Chron. xvi. 14; John xix. 40). The Sept., Aquila., and Vulg. render ‏חָנַט‎, puts forth, but this signification cannot be deduced from the root. Ewald, Magnus, Hitzig, have “the fig-tree reddens,” &c., but the verb is not used in this sense in Hebrew. ‏פָּג‎ (from ‏פָּגַג‎ immature), an unripe fig, Sept. ὄλυνθος, Vulg. grossus; so in the Talmud and Ibn Ezra, ‏פרי טרם שיתבשל‎, the fruit before it is ripe. The vines blossom, &c. It is well known that the blossoming vine smells sweetly; comp. Pliny, Hist. Nat. xiv. 2. ‏וְהַנְּפָנִים סְמָדַר‎, lit. the vines are in blossom, i.e. the vines blossom; so Sym. οἰνάνθη, Vulg. florentes. Substantives are frequently used in Hebrew instead of adjectives to express properties; thus ‏וְהַפִּשְׁתָּה גִבְעֹל‎, the flax was bolled. Exod. ix. 31; Ezra. x. 13. This peculiarity is to be accounted for by supposing either that the adjectives were not as yet formed, or if formed were still not currently used. Gesen. § 106, 1; Ewald, § 296 b. ‏לָכְי‎ stands for ‏לָךְ‎; comp. ver. 10; the ‏י‎ has been occasioned by the preceding form ‏קוּמִי‎, and succeeding words ‏רַעֳיתִי יָפָהִי‎, which terminate in ‏י‎. This is not unfrequently the case, see Job xix. 29; Eccl. viii. 17; Prov. viii. 35; Mich. i. 8. The Sept. has here again ‏לְכִי‎ for ‏לָךָ‎, and ‏יֹונָתִי‎ after ‏יָפָיָתִי‎. 14. My dove in the clefts, &c. Having described the charming aspect of nature, he repeated his invitation to her to go with him into the fields. Impatient at her apparent delay, the beloved, whilst calling her by the endearing epithet “dove,” delicately ascribed to her the timorous character of that bird. Doves in the East make their nests in the clefts of elevated rocks and cliffs (Jer. xxviii. 28), which they are exceedingly afraid to leave when once frightened. Thus Homer, Iliad, xxi. 493: Δακρυόεσσα δ’ ὕπαιθα θεὰ φύγεν, ὥστε πέλεια, Ἣ ῥά θ’ ὑπ’ ἴρηκος κοίλην εἰσέπτατο πέτρην, Χηραμὸν, οὐ δ’ ἄρα τῇ γε ἁλώμεναι αἴσιμον ἦεν. “As when the falcon wings her way above, To the cleft cavern speeds the frighten’d dove, Straight to her shelter thus the goddess flew.”