What Does Song of Solomon 2:4 Mean in the King James?
He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
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
Love is both the welcome within the house of wine and the banner by which the beloved is seen.
THE MEANING
You are brought into a house of wine, בֵּית הַיַּיִן (beit hayayin, “house of wine”), and love is the banner above you. Welcome is abundance shared, with love as the visible sign of belonging.
THE ROOT
דִּגְלוֹ
diglo
GROWS FROM
דגל
d-g-l
A standard or banner, and what is visibly marked or gathered under it.
The banner is a sign others can see: it marks where the beloved belongs. Here its message is love, so love becomes the visible covering over her place in the house.
ALSO GROWS
degel: Standard, tribal banner
דֶּגֶל
In Numbers, each camp gathers around its banner; the sign makes belonging visible and gives the group a shared center.
nidgalot: Bannered, arrayed under standards
נִדְגָּלוֹת
In Song of Solomon 6:4, the beloved is described as “terrible as an army with banners,” echoing this poem’s image of a visible sign above her.
אַהֲבָה
ahavah
GROWS FROM
אהב
a-h-v
Love, affection, attachment.
The root’s word family names both the one who loves and the one who is beloved. In this verse, love is not only a feeling between them; it is the sign held over the beloved.
ALSO GROWS
ohev: One who loves
אֹהֵב
The verse’s love belongs to a relationship, with a lover who brings the beloved into the house.
ahuv: Beloved
אָהוּב
The speaker stands as the beloved beneath the banner, showing how love names a bond as well as an emotion.
THE PATTERN
Love is both the dwelling that holds the beloved and the visible sign by which belonging is recognized.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.THE THREAD
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.The banner root דגל (d-g-l, “standard, banner”) appears as נִדְגָּלוֹת (nidgalot, “bannered”) in this image. Song 2:4 places love above the speaker as her sign; Song 6:4 expands the banner image into a visible, gathered presence.
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