Song of Solomon5:4

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Translation

My Love put his hand

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completely through

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the latch-opening;

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my feelings were stirred for him.

Paraphrase

The one I love was intent on making something happen, to gain access to me;

deep inside I longed for him and what he had to offer.

Footnotes

1

The hand, though it had many figurative uses, was usually a symbol of strength or activity. Here it is most likely activity.

2: “through”

This is an interesting choice of prepositions; it means “from, beyond, or than,” and a few other things, but it is not intended to communicate “through” or “by.” Here context tells us that the hand is passing “through” the hole in the door. I think the idea being communicated is that, from her perspective, his hand went way beyond the hole of the door; it came all the way in. She could have used another preposition for “through” but chose this one, which, when seen as “beyond” communicates even more powerfully than “through” would have. Incidentally, a literal interpretation would be impossible here for the latch hole was too small for a man’s hand to pass through; it was only big enough for a string to pass through. What good would be done by the latch and the bar if a man could reach his hand right through the hole and into the house to remove the obstacles? This has to be symbolism.

3: "latch-opening"

Literally: “the hole,” meaning the hole in the door, i.e. the latch opening where a string passed from the outside to the inside.