What Does Song of Solomon 2:6 Mean in the King James?
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
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 shown as a two-part holding: one hand bears the head from beneath while the other gathers the beloved close.
THE MEANING
You encounter intimacy as a bodily reality: one hand supports the beloved’s head while the other encloses her in an embrace. She is both borne and drawn close in the same moment.
THE ROOT
תְּחַבְּקֵנִי
teḥabbeqeni
GROWS FROM
חבק
to clasp, enfold, embrace
The Hebrew verb comes from חבק, the root of clasping someone close. Set beside the hand beneath her head, it makes the embrace more than nearness: one hand supports her while the other gathers her in.
ALSO GROWS
ḥibbēq: he embraced
חִבֵּק
This form names the act of clasping that the verse makes present between the two lovers.
meḥabbēq: embracing; one who embraces
מְחַבֵּק
This participial form presents the same root as an ongoing action of holding close.
רֹאשִׁי
roshi
GROWS FROM
ראש
head, top, chief, beginning
English ‘head’ sounds only anatomical here, while רֹאשׁ can also name a top, chief, or beginning. The scene remains physical, with the head supported, while the Hebrew word carries the further sense of the foremost part being held.
ALSO GROWS
rosh: head; top; chief
רֹאשׁ
The verse uses the bodily sense, with the beloved’s head resting on the hand beneath it.
reshit: beginning; first part
רֵאשִׁית
This branch carries the root’s sense of what comes first or stands at the beginning.
rishon: first; foremost
רִאשׁוֹן
This branch preserves the root’s association with what is foremost, alongside the verse’s literal image of the head.
THE PATTERN
Care becomes tangible when one person reaches for, touches, or gathers another close.
His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.The Hebrew repeats the same embrace verb, תְּחַבְּקֵנִי (teḥabbeqeni), from חבק (ḥavaq, to clasp or embrace), with the same image of the hand beneath her head. That returning phrase lets you hear how central this particular form of being held is to the beloved.
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