What Does Song of Solomon 2:10 Mean?
My beloved speaks, and says to me, Rise, my companion, my beautiful one, and come away.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.THE KEY
Her beloved repeats לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) after both “rise” and “go,” making the call a paired movement addressed to her personally.
THE MEANING
The beloved is named beautiful before she is called into motion. Rising and going form one invitation: she is cherished as the movement begins.
THE ROOT
לְכִי־לָךְ
lekhi lakh
GROWS FROM
הלך
halakh
to walk or go
“come away” in this verse is lekhi lakh. The command לְכִי־לָךְ (lekhi lakh, “go to you”) comes from הלך (halakh, “walk, go”). It echoes קוּמִי לָךְ (qumi lakh, “rise to you”): the same לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) accompanies both rising and going, a link the English phrasing leaves quiet.
ALSO GROWS
holekh: one who walks or goes
הוֹלֵךְ
It shows the root as movement carried by a person, not merely an idea.
halikhah: walking, a journey
הֲלִיכָה
The beloved’s invitation opens a course of movement, not just a moment of departure.
קוּמִי
qumi
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
to rise or stand
“Rise” in this verse is qumi. This root also forms מָקוֹם (maqom, “place”), the place where one stands. Rising and place share a seed: the invitation begins with standing, then moves into going.
ALSO GROWS
maqom: place
מָקוֹם
Its connection to qum makes rising and taking one’s place linguistically kin.
heqim: to establish or raise up
הֵקִים
The causative form shows the same root extending from standing into being set upright or established.
THE PATTERN
A call of love takes shape as movement: rise and go toward what is opening.
And the LORD said to Abram, Go away from your land, from your land of birth, and from your father's house, to the land I will let you see.Rise, shine, for your light has come, and the weight of the LORD has risen upon you.And Jesus said to them, "Come behind me, and I will make you fishers of humankind."THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Abram, Go away from your land, from your land of birth, and from your father's house, to the land I will let you see.The Hebrew command “Get thee out” begins לֶךְ־לְךָ (lekh-lekha, “go to you”), from הלך (halakh, “walk, go”), the same root as לְכִי־לָךְ (lekhi lakh, “go to you”) here. In both verses, the call takes form as movement from the known toward what is being opened.
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