What Does Song of Solomon 7:5 Mean in the King James?

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

Song of Solomon 7:5 · KJV

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 “galleries” are her flowing locks, and the king is bound there: the sovereign becomes the captive.

THE MEANING

Her head carries Carmel’s height and abundance, her hair the royal color of purple, and the king is held in its tresses. The power of the scene rests with the beloved: the king’s status does not keep him from being captured by desire.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A crown does not make anyone immune to being held; even a king can be captivated.

THE ROOT

אָסוּר

ʾāsūr

GROWS FROM

אָסַר

To bind, tie up, or imprison.

The Hebrew word carries the force of being bound or captive, making the king’s restraint more than admiration. The one who holds power is the one being held.

ALSO GROWS

leʾsor: To bind

לֶאְסֹר

Psalm 149:8 uses this verb for binding kings with chains, showing that the verse’s “held” belongs to a concrete language of restraint.

ʾāsîr: A prisoner or captive

אָסִיר

This noun names someone by their bound condition, sharpening the reversal in which the king is captivated.

רְהָטִים

rehatim

GROWS FROM

רהט

A rare root associated with running or flowing; its forms are rendered as channels, rafters, and, here, tresses.

The rare word is commonly understood here as locks or tresses, while related occurrences are rendered as water channels and rafters. “Galleries” preserves a built-space image, while “tresses” restores the flowing hair in which the king is caught.

ALSO GROWS

rehatim: Water channels or troughs (Genesis 30:38)

רְהָטִים

The channel sense gives the tresses a flowing-line image, as though the king is caught among strands that run.

rahitim: Rafters or roof beams (Song of Solomon 1:17)

רָהִיטִים

This related form preserves the architectural image behind “galleries,” so the hair can also be pictured as an enclosing space.

THE PATTERN

What captivates or governs a person can make the one who seems sovereign the one held.

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.

Song of Solomon 4:9 · KJVThe beloved’s eye and necklace captivate the speaker, echoing the king held by the beloved’s hair.

His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

Proverbs 5:22 · KJVHere a person is held by the cords of what they have done, showing how what acts upon someone can also bind them.

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

2 Corinthians 5:14 · KJVLove constrains from within, another force that holds a person beyond status or outward power.

THE THREAD

To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

Psalm 149:8 · KJV

The Hebrew word behind “held” here is ⁨אָסַר⁩ (ʾāsar), meaning “to bind”; Psalm 149:8 uses the same root for binding kings with chains. The shared word joins captivation and literal restraint, making the king’s reversal unmistakable.

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