What Does Song of Solomon 1:4 Mean in the King James?
Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
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 beloved asks to be drawn first, and only then does the whole company run after love.
THE MEANING
The voice begins with a request to be drawn close; the running follows. Intimacy opens into shared gladness, while the beloved’s love remains more cherished than wine. Invitation, pursuit, and celebration move together in the verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that desire must begin with self-generated effort: here, the request to be drawn comes before pursuit.
THE ROOT
מָשְׁכֵנִי
mashkheni
GROWS FROM
משך
māšakh
To draw, pull, or extend.
“Draw me” in this verse is mashkheni. The root holds pulling and extending together, so being drawn is movement that reaches outward. The request comes before the plural “we will run”: attraction opens the way for desire to follow.
ALSO GROWS
meshōkh: Draw out; continue.
מְשֹׁךְ
In Psalm 36:10, this form is translated “continue” in “O continue thy lovingkindness,” showing the same root carrying the sense of love extended onward.
vayyimshĕḵû: They drew.
וַיִּמְשְׁכוּ
In Genesis 37:28, this form names a literal pulling; here the same root gives the pull a beloved’s invitation.
THE PATTERN
Love draws first, and movement toward the beloved follows.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.THE THREAD
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.“Drawn” here and “Draw me” in the song share the Hebrew root משך (māšakh), meaning to draw or pull. That shared root lets the song’s intimate invitation and lovingkindness meet in one motion: love draws the beloved toward closeness.
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