With one of thine eyes, &c. It is customary with Eastern women to unveil one of their eyes in conversation, in which case a part of their neck ornaments becomes also visible. Niebuhr, Travels in Arabia, i. 262; see Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. Art. Veil, figure 536, and infra, viii. 9. The Anonymous MS., however, explains ‏בְּאֶחַד מֵעֵינַיִךְ‎ by ‏בהבטה אחת שאת מבטת בי באחד מעיניך‎, one look of thine eyes. The rendering at once (Hodgson, Good) is incongruous. The attempt of the Masorites to substitute ‏בַּאַחַת‎, fem., for ‏בְּאֶחַד‎, mas., having evidently arisen from their anxiety to avoid the apparent incongruity of coupling a masculine numeral with a feminine noun, is unnecessary. The true solution lies in the fact, that members of the human body, although usually feminine, are most of them employed occasionally as masculine. Job xxi. 20; Zech. iv. 10; and infra, vi. 5; Gesen. § 107, 4 b; Ewald, § 174 d. ‏עֲנָקָ‎ is not look (Vulg.), nor turn (Percy, Good), nor stone (Ewald, Magnus), but chain. This is evident from Judg. viii. 26, and Prov. i. 9, the only two passages where this word occurs again (except as a proper name), and is translated by the Sept. (Judg. and Prov.) κλοιός, necklace, Aquila, περιτραχήλιος, πλόκαμος, neckband, neck-work; Sym. κλοιός, ὁρμίσκος, necklace; Vulg. (Judg. and Prov.) torques. So Ibn Ezra, ‏מני חלי קשוריﬦ על הצואר‎, a kind of ornamental band, tied round the neck, Rashi, Rashbam, Gesenius, De Wette, Döpke, Lee, Philippson, Meier, Hengstenberg, &c. The objection urged by Hitzig, that an inanimate ornament could not effect such great things, is obviated by a reference to the Book of Judith, xvi. 9, where we are informed that the fair one succeeded in captivating even the savage Holofernes with her sandals: τὸ σανδάλιον αὐτῆς ἥρπασεν ὀφθαλμὸν αὐτοῦ. Besides, the meaning here is, that the slightest view of her is sufficient to inspire him with vigour and courage. The termination ‏–וֹן‎ in ‏צַּוָּרוֹן‎, like ‏וּן‎, in Syriac, forms the diminutive; and, like diminutives in other languages, is expressive of affection; Gesen. § 86, 2, 4; Ewald, 5, 167 a. The plur. termination ‏–ָיִךְ‎ in ‏מִצֲוְּרֹנָיִךְ‎, is to be accounted for on the score that the Hebrews sometimes use plural forms for certain members of the body. Comp. ‏פָּנִיﬦ‎, face, Gesen. § 108, 2 a; Ewald, § 178 a. 10. How sweet is thy love, &c. Here the lover tells his loved one why the sight of her is so animating and emboldening. For the comparison of love with wine, see i. 2, 3. The Sept., which is followed by the Syriac, Vulg., Arabic, and Luther, has here again ‏דַדֶּיךָ‎, thy breasts; but see i. 2. The Sept. has also ὀσμὴ ἱματίων σου, ‏וְרֵיחַ שִׂמְלֹתַיִךְ‎, for ‏וְרֵיחַ שְׁמָנַיִךְ‎, evidently taken from the following verse. 11. Thy lips, O my betrothed, &c. Every word which falls from her lips is like a drop from the honeycomb. This comparison is used in other parts of Scripture, and by the Greeks and Romans. Thus Prov. v. 3:—