What Does Song of Solomon 5:14 Mean in the King James?
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
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’s gold forms are filled with beryl, making the body and its adornment one image of precious fullness.
THE MEANING
The beloved’s body is seen in lavish detail: his hands hold gold forms full of beryl, and his belly shines as ivory beneath sapphires. The gaze lingers over different parts of him and recognizes their beauty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belly is not outside beauty’s notice; it receives the same precious attention as the hands.
THE ROOT
מְמֻלָּאִים
memullaʾim
GROWS FROM
מלא
maleʾ
Fill; be full.
“set with” in this verse is memullaʾim. The wording pictures the gold forms as filled with beryl. The same root describes stones filling settings in the ephod and breastplate, echoing adornment completed by the stones it holds.
ALSO GROWS
maleʾ: To be full; to become full.
מָלֵא
The beryl fills the gold forms, making fullness part of the image rather than merely placing one precious material beside another.
milluʾim: Fillings; setting stones, as in “stones to be set” in Exodus 25:7.
מִלּוּאִים
This word describes stones placed in the ephod and breastplate, a close scriptural parallel to the verse’s gold filled with a precious stone.
גְּלִילֵי
gelilei
GROWS FROM
גלל
galal
Roll; roll away.
The word translated “gold rings” describes round or cylindrical forms and belongs to the root of rolling. A scroll comes from the same root family, so the beloved’s ornament carries the same shaping image as something rolled.
ALSO GROWS
galal: To roll; to roll away.
גָּלַל
This verb reveals the rolling image beneath the round forms of gold in the verse.
megillah: Scroll; a rolled document.
מְגִלָּה
A scroll shares the rolling root, showing how the same Hebrew family can name both a rounded form and an object made by rolling.
THE PATTERN
An attentive gaze makes the body visible as precious through specific detail.
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.THE THREAD
Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.The word translated “set with” comes from מלא (maleʾ, “fill; be full”); Exodus uses a form of the same root for stones set into the ephod and breastplate. The shared language links the beloved’s jeweled body with the image of a garment made complete by the stones it holds.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us