7, 8. Thou art all beautiful, &c. Gladdened with her declaration, the shepherd, crowning and closing his description in the words, “Thou art a perfect beauty,” responds, “Thou shalt go with me, I will help thee to quit these lofty heights, the abode of lions and panthers—the royal residence; and safely conduct thee to the place whither thou wouldst go.” Lebanon is the name of a long range of mountains on the north of Palestine (Deut. ii. 24; Josh. i. 4), consisting of two parallel chains, which run from south-west to north-east. Though the Scriptures have only one name, viz. Lebanon, for both these chains, yet the present inhabitants of that country, as well as modern Travellers, have found it convenient to call the westermost chain, facing the Mediterranean,—Lebanon; and the eastern one, facing the plain of Damascus,—Anti-Libanus, from its being at Tyre, parallel with and opposite to the Syrian Lebanon. Amana, ‏אֲמָנָה‎, is the name of the southern part of Anti-Libanus, at the root of which, it is supposed, issues the river of the same name; see 2 Kings v. 12. Hermon, ‏חֶרְמֹון‎, is the name of the highest summit of a chain at the northernmost boundary of Palestine, and belongs also to Anti-Libanus (Josh. xi. 17; xiii. 5), and is now identified with Jebel-el-Sheikh. It consists of several mountains, viz. Sirion, ‏שִׁרְיוֹן‎, Shenir, ‏שְׁנִיר‎, and Sion, ‏שִׂיאֹן‎; whence its plural name ‏חֶרְבוֹנִים‎, see Fürst, Lexicon, s.v. Lebanon, Amana, Shenir and Hermon are here not intended to denote various parts of the range of mountains, but are merely different names of the royal residence. The word ‏תַּשׁוּרִי‎ is well rendered by the Sept., Syriac, &c., thou shalt go; comp. Isa. lvii. 9. The Common Version look is incompatible with the context and parallelism. Surely no one would invite his beloved to go with him to dangerous mountain-tops, to take a view of the country! Persons are generally anxious to avoid perilous places. The lions and panthers denote the king and his courtiers, Ezek. xix. 7; xxii. 25; Nahum ii. 12. ‏כָּלָה‎, rendered spouse in the Authorized Version, is taken by some to denote a newly-married woman. The word however only means betrothed = a female under an engagement to marry. This is the sense in which the Jews still use the expression. The Sept., which is followed by the Vulg. and Luther, translates ‏אִתִּי‎, δεῦρο, mistaking it for ‏אֲתִי‎, the imp. of ‏אָתָּה‎, to come. The Vulg. rendering of ‏תָּשׁוּרִי‎ by coronaberis, evidently savours of allegorism. For the Septuagint’s rendering of ‏אֲמָנָה‎, by πίστις, see Introduction, p. 21.