What Does Song of Solomon 5:7 Mean in the King James?
The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from 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
The verse names both the watchmen and the wall keepers with the same Hebrew root: the guardians become the ones who strike and uncover her.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now without softening the violence: the watchmen find the speaker, strike and wound her, and take her veil. It names both the city patrol and the wall keepers with the same root of guarding, so the people charged with the boundary become the agents of violation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that someone assigned to protect you cannot also be the source of harm.
THE ROOT
הַשֹּׁמְרִים
hashomerim
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
sh-m-r
To keep, guard, or watch.
“watchmen / keepers” in this verse is hashomerim. The Hebrew uses the same root for the watchmen circling the city and the keepers of its walls. English gives them different titles, but the repeated root binds them into one guarding force, and that force is the one that strikes, wounds, and removes her covering.
ALSO GROWS
shamar: The verb at the root of both titles.
שָׁמַר
It makes the repeated act of guarding audible beneath the two English roles.
mishmeret: An assigned watch or responsibility to guard.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
It echoes the duty carried by the city watchmen, making the breach between their charge and their violence sharper.
THE PATTERN
People assigned to guard or shepherd can use their authority in ways that injure the people entrusted to them.
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.THE THREAD
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.The Hebrew word translated “keepeth” is שֹׁמֵר (shomer, one who keeps or watches), from the same root used for both groups of guards in Song of Solomon 5:7. That shared root sharpens the contrast: the title of keeper alone does not guarantee safety; this psalm pictures keeping as wakeful protection.
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