What Does Song of Solomon 1:16 Mean in the King James?
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
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
The lovers’ shared bed is called green: their intimacy is pictured as a living, flourishing place.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as beautiful and delightful by the one who loves you. Your shared bed is pictured as green, fresh, and alive.
THE ROOT
דּוֹדִי
dodi
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved or lover; the word family also names affection shared between lovers.
The beloved person and the lovers’ caresses belong to the same word family. The verse’s affection is embodied in their shared intimacy.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved, lover; also kinsman or uncle.
דּוֹד
The same word can name the person being loved, giving “my beloved” a close, relational warmth.
dodim: Loves or caresses.
דּוֹדִים
This word for shared affection appears in Song 1:2, linking the beloved with the intimacy between them.
נָעִים
naʿim
GROWS FROM
נעם
n-ʿ-m
To be pleasant or delightful.
“pleasant” in this verse is naʿim. Pleasantness here is a felt quality of the relationship, alongside the beloved’s beauty. The same root can name delight as an experience, not only a judgment of appearance.
ALSO GROWS
noʿam: Pleasantness or delight.
נֹעַם
Psalm 27:4 uses this noun for the delight of beholding, showing the root can describe an experience that draws someone in.
neʿimim: Pleasant places.
נְעִמִים
Psalm 16:6 uses this form for places that are pleasant, echoing the verse’s description of a shared space.
THE PATTERN
Shared love is pictured as a place where delight and flourishing take form.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!The Hebrew נָעִים (naʿim, pleasant) appears in both verses. Here it names delight between lovers; there it describes people dwelling together, showing pleasantness as a quality of shared life.
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