Song of Solomon 1:10
in Song of Solomon 1Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, Thy neck with strings of jewels.
KJV
Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verse"How beautifully made your cheeks, like those of a turtledove." Zoologists claim that the turtledove not only likes solitude but is also not promiscuous, the male mating with one female, and the female associating with one male, and at the death of its mate it …
This site's exposition
company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots
on Song of Solomon 1:9-11
The comparison likens the bride to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots, praise drawn from Solomon's own trade in Egyptian horses and chariotry (1 Kings 10:28-29) and read by the bench as admiration of stately, ornamented movement rather than of size, since Egyptian chariot teams were famously decked in gold and jewels. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold continues the same picture in her own ornaments, and we will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver answers her beauty with a promised gift finer still. Clarke and Gill both note the comparison sounds odd to modern ears yet stood among the highest compliments available at a king's court.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Wishing to inspire a spirit of humility in her actions, the Word says this: "Your neck is as if circled with jewels." For just as he describes "the stiff neck" of the proud as "a sinew of iron" because of its stiffness, so too he …
The Medieval Church4 voices
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
The turtledove, after it has once lost its mate, never joins itself to another, but always dwelling in solitude perseveres in mourning; because not finding the one it loved, it searches. So every holy soul, while it is absent from its Bridegroom, does not withdraw …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
God's wisdom appears most beautifully in the mysteries of Scripture, even more than in the first manner. For if, so to speak, I wish to praise the bride in that she is pretty and truthful: if I simply say that she is pretty and truthful, …
Your cheeks are beautiful, etc. It is said to be the nature of the turtle-dove that, if deprived by the loss of its mate, it does not unite with another. This suitably applies to the chastity of the Church, which, although widowed by the death …
Your neck is like jewels, etc. Through the neck, we transfer food into the body to be nourished, and we utter words to reveal the secrets of our hearts to others. Thus, rightly in the neck of the Church, the figure of teachers is designated, …
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 40 · Written before 1153.
proposed
"Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." The bride's modesty is a delicate thing; and I feel that at the Bridegroom's reproof a warm flush suffused her face, so heightening her beauty that she immediately was greeted with: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 41 · Written before 1153.
proposed
1. "Your neck is like jewels" (Song 1:9). The neck is accustomed to be adorned with jewels, not to be compared to them. But let those do this for whom, because beauty does not inhere of their own, it is necessary to beg from elsewhere …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels,....
His gracious purpose to add to her ornaments; for where God has given true grace he will give more grace; to him that has shall be given. Is the church courageous in her resistance of sin, as the horses in Pharaoh's chariots? Is she comely in the exercise of grace, as with rows of jewels and chains of gold?
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thy cheeks are comely - D’Arvieux has remarked that “the Arabian ladies wear a great many pearls about their necks and caps. They have golds chains about their necks which hang down upon their bosoms with strings of coloured gauze; the gauze itself bordered with zechins and other pieces of gold coin, which hang upon their foreheods and both cheeks.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
rows of jewels-- (Eze 16:11-13). OLERIUS says, Persian ladies wear two or three rows of pearls round the head, beginning on the forehead and descending down to the cheeks and under the chin, so that their faces seem to be set in pearls (Eze 16:11). The comparison of the horses (So 1:9) implies the vital energy of the bride; this verse, her superadded graces (Pr 1:9;
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How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Your cheeks are comely with rows of gems. Rows of earrings and a golden forehead plate. 44 Alternatively, ornaments in the shape of turtledoves [=תורים] (Ibn Ezra)
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Circlets of gold we will make for you. I and My tribunal decided before Pharaoh’s arrival that I should entice him and harden his heart to pursue you with all the best of his hidden treasures; so that we should make circlets of golden ornaments for you.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָאו֤וּ | navu | they are beautiful | H4998 → | |
| לְחָיַ֙יִךְ֙ | lechayayikh | cheeks your | H3895 → | |
| בַּתֹּרִ֔ים | batorim | with <the> strings of jewels | H8447 → | |
| צַוָּארֵ֖ךְ | tzavarekh | neck your | H6677 → | 42 times |
| בַּחֲרוּזִֽים׃ | bacharuzim | with <the> strings of beads | H2737 → |
נָאו֤וּthey are beautiful
navuH4998 →
לְחָיַ֙יִךְ֙cheeks your
lechayayikhH3895 →
בַּתֹּרִ֔יםwith <the> strings of jewels
batorimH8447 →
צַוָּארֵ֖ךְneck your
tzavarekhH6677 →42 times
בַּחֲרוּזִֽים׃with <the> strings of beads
bacharuzimH2737 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 3:4but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
it leads to
- Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the…
- Romans 2:29
No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come…
- Matthew 11:29
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- Titus 3:2
to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
- Colossians 3:12
Through
Song of Solomon 5:13His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 2:1
I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.
- Song of Solomon 2:1
Through
Genesis 24:47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on…
it leads to
- Isaiah 62:3–5
You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.
- Psalms 45:13–14
All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.
- Isaiah 62:3–5
Where this verse is studied
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About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 40; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 41; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Nilus of Sinai, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 26; Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1.