What Does Song of Solomon 4:8 Mean in the King James?
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
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 repeated “with me” makes the call itself a passage from exposed heights into shared presence.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses you as beloved and calls you from high, exposed terrain where lions and leopards dwell. “With me” is repeated, so the movement centers on shared presence; the threat remains named rather than softened.
THE ROOT
לְבָנוֹן
Levanon
GROWS FROM
לבן
l-b-n
To be white; whiteness.
The name לְבָנוֹן (Levanon, “Lebanon”) is commonly linked to לָבָן (lavan, “white”), likely for its pale or snow-marked heights. English retains the place but loses this color-word beneath it, so the verse’s brilliant heights and predator-filled terrain belong to the same named landscape.
ALSO GROWS
lavan: White
לָבָן
This root gives Lebanon its traditional sense as the white or snow-marked mountain country.
levonah: Frankincense
לְבוֹנָה
This fragrant resin is associated with the same whiteness-root, echoing the later image of Lebanon as a source of fragrance.
THE PATTERN
A loving call draws the exposed or burdened person toward presence, room, and rest.
He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.Hosea uses the same name, Lebanon, as a source of fragrance and spreading beauty. That widens Song’s image: the beloved is called away from the mountain’s exposed danger while the place itself still carries beauty and fragrance.
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