What Does Song of Solomon 5:3 Mean in the King James?
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
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 “how?” turns a simple response into a cost calculation: rising means undoing the comfort the speaker has just arranged.
THE MEANING
A voice is at the door while the speaker is settled in the state she prepared for rest. Putting her garment back on and risking her clean feet make responding feel like a cost. The repeated question gives her hesitation a practical-sounding reason.
THE ROOT
אֶלְבָּשֶׁנָּה
elbashennah
GROWS FROM
ל־ב־שׁ
l-b-sh
To clothe or put on clothing; in a causative form, to clothe someone else.
“put on” in this verse is elbashennah. Here the verb describes putting clothing back on oneself; the same root elsewhere describes God clothing exposed people. It lets clothing carry both the friction of this moment and the provision pictured in those other verses.
ALSO GROWS
wayyalbishem: He put clothing on them.
וַיַּלְבִּשֵׁם
In Genesis 3:21, the LORD clothes Adam and his wife; the same root makes clothing something that can be given to exposed bodies.
hilbishani: He clothed me.
הִלְבִּישַׁנִי
Isaiah 61:10 uses the same root for being clothed; here, by contrast, the speaker imagines having to dress herself again.
רָחַצְתִּי
rachatzti
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ץ
r-ḥ-ts
To wash or bathe.
“washed” in this verse is rachatzti. The root’s phrase for washing feet appears in scenes of hospitality, where a guest is welcomed and offered rest. Here the washing is complete, but preserving it becomes a reason to delay receiving the one at the door.
ALSO GROWS
rachatsu raglekhem: Wash your feet.
רַחֲצוּ רַגְלֵיכֶם
In Genesis 18:4, Abraham offers this as part of welcoming visitors before they rest; the same foot-washing phrase sits at a threshold of welcome here.
rachatsu raglekhem: Wash your feet.
רַחֲצוּ רַגְלֵיכֶם
In Genesis 19:2, Lot offers foot-washing along with lodging; in this verse, concern about undoing the wash delays opening to a visitor.
THE PATTERN
A knock turns the comfort of the inside into a threshold of response.
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.THE THREAD
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.The “put on” here and “clothed them” in Genesis come from לבש (lavash, to clothe). In this scene, clothing feels like effort after rest; in Genesis, the same root describes clothing given to exposed bodies.
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