What Does Song of Solomon 6:1 Mean in the King James?
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
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 absence becomes the point where longing stops being solitary and turns into a search held with others.
THE MEANING
The question of where the beloved is becomes one others hold with you. Your longing is met by company willing to seek him alongside you.
THE ROOT
וּנְבַקְשֶׁנּוּ
u-nevaqqeshennu
GROWS FROM
בקש
Seek, search for, request
“seek him” in this verse is u-nevaqqeshennu. The root בָּקַשׁ (baqash) can carry both seeking and requesting. Here longing becomes an expressed request and a pursuit shared with another person.
ALSO GROWS
biqqēsh: sought, searched for
בִּקֵּשׁ
This verb form keeps the search active: the beloved is someone pursued, not merely wondered about.
mevaqqēsh: one who seeks
מְבַקֵּשׁ
This form names the seeker, making visible the people who join the woman in her search.
פָּנָה
pānāh
GROWS FROM
פנה
Turn, turn toward, face
The word translated “turned aside” also carries the sense of turning or facing. Its echo in the word for “face” brings movement and orientation together: the question follows the beloved’s direction, not just his location.
ALSO GROWS
pānāh: turned, faced, attended
פָּנָה
The beloved’s turning describes a change of direction that the searchers can follow.
pānīm: face, presence
פָּנִים
The shared consonants link turning with face and presence, letting the verse’s search reach beyond location toward the beloved himself.
THE PATTERN
Longing takes direction when the sought one becomes the object of active seeking.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:THE THREAD
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.Both verses use בָּקַשׁ (baqash), meaning seek, search for, or request. Here others offer to seek the beloved with the woman; there the heart answers the call to seek the LORD’s face. The shared root turns longing into chosen pursuit in both.
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