Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageUntil the day breaks and the shadows flee — turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the divided mountains.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GUntil the day breathes again and the shadows flee — turn, my love, be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Beter.
KJV
King James VersionUntil the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleBefore the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.
Footnotes
עַד שֶׁיָּפוּחַ הַיּוֹם (ad she-yafuaḥ ha-yom) = "until the day breathes" — יָפוּחַ is from נָפַח (to breathe/blow); the F.O.G renders it literally, preserving the image of dawn's first breath of wind dispersing the night shadows; the F.O.G Message uses "breaks," capturing the conventional temporal sense. הָרֵי בָתֶר (harei vater): בָּתֶר can mean either the proper place name "Bether" (a town in Judah, Joshua 15:59) or the descriptive noun "cleft/divided" (from בתר, to cut through). The F.O.G preserves "Beter" as a geographic anchor; the F.O.G Message renders "divided mountains" — rugged, cleft terrain that mirrors both wild landscape and, for attentive readers of chapter 4, the contours of the beloved herself.
