What Does Song of Solomon 5:15 Mean?
His legs are pillars of marble, founded on sockets of fine gold; his look is like Lebanon, chosen as the cedars.
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
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.THE KEY
The verse makes beauty structural: what rises into view is anchored by what has been set beneath it.
THE MEANING
You meet the beloved as an image of complete strength: marble legs rise from gold foundations, and his face fills the frame with Lebanon and its cedars. His beauty is both visible splendor and the support that lets the image stand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that beauty is only a surface or face; this image gives equal weight to what bears the visible form.
THE ROOT
מְיֻסָּדִים
meyussadim
GROWS FROM
יסד
y-s-d
to establish or lay a foundation
“founded on” in this verse is meyussadim. The word rendered “set” comes from יסד (yāsad, to establish or found), the same root used for laying foundations. The sockets are more than a visual detail: the marble pillars are secured, so splendor rises from rooted support.
ALSO GROWS
yāsad: to establish or found
יָסַד
The verb names the act of setting something firmly in place beneath what rises above it.
yesod: foundation or base
יְסוֹד
This noun makes explicit the underlying support already present in the image of the gold sockets.
לְבָנוֹן
Levanon
GROWS FROM
לבן
l-b-n
to be white; whiteness
Lebanon (לְבָנוֹן, Levanon) is commonly connected with לבן (lāvan, white), a name-nature that adds the mountain’s pale presence to its cedar-covered height. His countenance is pictured as a whole landscape, not merely a single feature.
ALSO GROWS
lāvan: to become white
לָבַן
This verb carries the whiteness commonly heard in Lebanon’s name.
lāvan: white
לָבָן
The adjective gives the mountain comparison a quality of brightness alongside its stature and cedars.
בָּחוּר
bachur
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
to choose or select
“chosen” in this verse is bachur. The Hebrew בָּחוּר (bāḥūr, choice or selected) sharpens the cedar comparison: he is like cedar at its finest. The root בחר (bāḥar, to choose) opens “excellent” into selectness, the quality of being singled out.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥar: to choose or select
בָּחַר
The verb reveals the choice and distinction carried by the description.
mivḥar: choice or choicest thing
מִבְחָר
This noun echoes the verse’s picture of a beloved compared with cedar at its best.
THE PATTERN
What rises into view is held by what has been firmly set beneath it.
He lays the earth upon its footing, and it does not totter for the ages and ages.Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.And, you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands.THE THREAD
He lays the earth upon its footing, and it does not totter for the ages and ages.The Hebrew root יסד (yāsad, to establish or found) shapes “set” here and “laid the foundations” in Psalm 104:5. The image stretches from the beloved’s body to the earth itself: what stands in view is held by what has been set beneath it.
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