What Does Song of Solomon 6:5 Mean in the King James?
Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
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
Her eyes overwhelm him, and Hebrew’s word for eyes also names a spring, making her gaze feel like a source that flows toward him.
THE MEANING
Desire reverses its usual direction: the one who looks is the one overcome. Her eyes disarm him, while her hair appears in motion, like goats descending Gilead. Beauty here has force; it is not merely something he appraises.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the one who looks is always in control: here, the gaze turns back and overcomes the beholder.
THE ROOT
עֵינַיִךְ
ʿênayikh
GROWS FROM
עין
ʿ-y-n
Eye; also a spring or source of water.
“eyes” in this verse is ʿênayikh. The same Hebrew word names an eye and a spring. That opens the image of her gaze as a source flowing toward him, not simply a feature he observes.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye
עַיִן
This is the singular form behind the word for her eyes.
maʿyan: A spring or fountain
מַעְיָן
This related word carries the source-of-water sense, opening a deeper image for the gaze that overcomes him.
הִרְהִיבֻנִי
hirhibuni
GROWS FROM
רהב
r-h-b
To act with boisterous, audacious force; in this form, to overwhelm or embolden.
“overcome” in this verse is hirhibuni. The verb carries the force of being made bold or overwhelmed, not merely persuaded. Her eyes hit the speaker with enough force to undo his composure.
ALSO GROWS
rehavim: The proud or boastful
רְהָבִים
This related form carries the root’s sense of audacious, forceful presence.
tarhivēni: You emboldened or strengthened me
תַּרְהִיבֵנִי
In Psalm 138:3, a form from this root is rendered “strengthened”; here, the force of the eyes overwhelms the speaker.
THE PATTERN
A gaze can carry force enough to seize the heart and shape what follows.
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.THE THREAD
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.Both verses use עין (ʿayin, “eye”) for the beloved’s gaze. In 4:9 one eye seizes the heart; here the eyes overwhelm the speaker.
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