What Does Song of Solomon 1:15 Mean in the King James?

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.

Song of Solomon 1:15 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Beauty here is not only declared; it is located in a gaze likened to doves.

THE MEANING

You are addressed here as someone seen with delight: “thou art fair” is repeated, not qualified. Your eyes are singled out and likened to doves, so the beloved’s beauty includes the gaze she carries.

THE ROOT

עֵינַיִךְ

ʿeynayikh

GROWS FROM

עין

ʿayin

Eye; also a spring or source.

The Hebrew word for eye is also used for a spring or source, so the image can suggest a gaze that gives forth, not merely one that receives. The dove remains the verse’s own comparison, keeping the focus on how the beloved’s eyes are seen.

ALSO GROWS

ʿayin: Eye; the same Hebrew noun also means a spring or source.

עַיִן

This is the word behind “eyes,” and its source sense lets the beloved’s gaze carry an image of life welling up.

maʿyan: Spring, fountain.

מַעְיָן

This related form makes the spring or source sense explicit, opening the eye image beyond appearance.

THE PATTERN

A discerning gaze recognizes and names what is present in another.

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

Song of Solomon 4:1 · KJVThe same repeated declaration and dove-like gaze return as a way of recognizing the beloved.

And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

Genesis 16:13 · KJVHagar names the truth of being seen, making recognition itself the center of the encounter.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

John 1:47 · KJVJesus’s gaze recognizes and names what is present in Nathanael.

THE THREAD

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

Song of Solomon 5:12 · KJV

The same eye word and dove image return in the beloved’s description of him, making the gaze mutual. This opens the verse from a compliment about one person’s appearance into a shared way of seeing and being seen.

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