viii. 1; Mich. i. 7), or ‏מַרְכְּבוֹת‎ may be taken as a designation of place after ‏שׂוּם‎, a verb of motion; comp. Isa. xl. 26. ‏מֶרְכָּבָה‎, a chariot, used for warlike purposes, or for state or pleasure, Gen. xlvi. 29; Exod. xv. 4; 2 Sam. xv. 1. The expression ‏עַמִּי‎ may either mean populares mei—(the Hebrews having no separate word for “countryman,” use this expression to denote one of their own people (Gesen. xxiii. 11; Lam. ii. 11), and ‏נָדִיב‎ may be an adjective for ‏הַנַּדִיב‎, as the article is sometimes omitted through following a noun with suffix)—or ‏עַמִּי‎ may here be used, like ‏עִישׁ‎, for companions, attendants, followers, (Eccl. iv. 16,) the ‏י‎ in ‏עַמִּי‎ not being a suffix, but paragogic, and a mark of the const. state (Deut. xxxiii. 16; Lam. i. 1), and ‏נָדִיב‎, a noun in the genitive of the king or prince. As to how much stress there is to be laid on the Sept., which takes ‏עַמִּי נָדִיב‎ as a proper name, and is followed by the Arabic, Æthiop., Vulg., and which also produced some variations in the orthography of these words, we need only refer to vii. 2, where the same version renders ‏בַּת נָדִיב‎ by θυγάτηρ Ἀμιναδὰβ. The verse, therefore, may either be translated: “My soul has unwittingly made me the chariots of my noble countrymen,” or, “My soul has unwittingly placed at, or brought me to the chariots of my noble people, or to the chariots of the companions of the prince.” Now against the first rendering we urge, in the first place, that if the chariots be taken in the accusative, and hence in a figurative sense, we are unavoidably led into a bewildering maze of conjectural and fanciful opinions. The following may serve as a specimen. Rashi takes the chariots to be a sign of ignominy. ‏נפשי שמתני להיות מרכבות להרכיב עלי נדיבות שאר אומות‎, “My soul has made me to be chariots for foreign princes to ride upon”; i.e. I have willingly brought upon me a foreign yoke. Ibn Ezra takes the chariots as a figure for swiftness, ‏לא ידעתי שהייתי הולכת במרוצה אליך כמו מרכבות עמי נדיב הגדול שיש בעמי‎, “I did not know that I was hurrying on to thee with the rapidity of the chariots of the great prince who is among my people;” which the Syriac, ܐܳܐ ܝܶܕܥܰܬ ܢܰܦܫܝ ܣܳܡܬܰܥܝ ܒܡܳܪܒܳܒܬܐ‎, though sharing somewhat in the errors of the Sept. and Vulg., seems to favour. Herder takes the chariots as a symbol of martial power, guard, and protection (Ps. xx. 8; 2 Kings ii. 11, 12). Hengstenberg affirms that the chariots signify champion, guard, defence. And secondly, this translation interrupts the connexion of this verse with the preceding one. Now the second rendering avoids all this. Solomon has repeated in verse 10 the praise which the court ladies had pronounced on the Shulamite when they first saw her; the Shulamite (in ver. 11, 12), in reply, explains how she came to the carriages of the court ladies.