What Does Song of Solomon 7:10 Mean in the King James?
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward 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 Hebrew word for “desire” also names sin’s pull toward Cain, so here desire is a force aimed toward the speaker, not a vague feeling.
THE MEANING
The speaker names her own place in the bond: she belongs to her beloved, and his desire is directed toward her. The line holds belonging and being desired together as part of an intimate relationship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being desired does not make the speaker voiceless: she names the bond herself, while his desire is turned toward her.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ
teshuqato
GROWS FROM
שׁוּק
sh-u-q
Desire, longing directed toward someone or something.
English “desire” can sound like a private feeling, but the same rare Hebrew word describes sin’s desire toward Cain. Here its direction is explicitly toward the speaker, alongside her own declaration of belonging; the shared word illuminates the force without making the contexts identical.
ALSO GROWS
teshuqah: Desire toward her husband (Genesis 3:16).
תְּשׁוּקָה
The same word places desire within a bond whose direction and balance are also named.
teshuqato: His desire toward Cain (Genesis 4:7).
תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ
This occurrence shows the word can describe a compelling pull, giving its use here more weight than a passing inclination.
דּוֹדִי
dodi
GROWS FROM
דּוֹד
d-w-d
Beloved; the word family also includes a term for an uncle or kinsman and a word for love or caresses.
The word translated “beloved” belongs to a family that includes both kinship and embodied affection. In this line, “my beloved” names a person within the intimacy of love, not an abstract ideal.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also uncle or kinsman.
דּוֹד
The word’s range includes a close relational bond.
dodim: Love or caresses (Song of Solomon 1:2).
דּוֹדִים
The same word family carries affection into the embodied register of the Song.
THE PATTERN
Desire and belonging disclose the direction and balance of a bond.
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.THE THREAD
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.Genesis uses the same rare Hebrew word for desire when it says sin’s desire is toward Cain. Song of Solomon turns that same directed pull toward the speaker, whose own voice names her belonging.
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