Song of Solomon 1:14
in Song of Solomon 1My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers In the vineyards of En-gedi.
KJV
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En–gedi.
⋯
This verse in Song of Solomon 1
Commentary
14 notes on this verseThe location of the heart is said by experts to lie between the two breasts. Here is where the bride says that she has the sachet in which her treasure is kept. Also, the heart is said to be a source of warmth from which the body's heat is distributed through the arteries. The body's members are thereby heated, animated and nourished by the heart's fire. Therefore the bride has received the good odor of Christ in the governing part of the soul and has made her own heart a kind of sachet for such incense.
This site's exposition
the king sitteth at his table
on Song of Solomon 1:12-14
While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof turns the scene domestic, her own fragrance filling the room where he rests. A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me, worn between the breasts through the night by the custom of the time, names him a fragrance she carries close rather than a gift she merely awaits, and my beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi sets him against a real oasis on the Dead Sea famous for its balsam groves. Delitzsch reads the three images together as the poem moving from scent surrounding her, to scent she keeps against her own body, to scent tied to one named place.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
She calls him "nard" because of his working of miracles and service of kindness extended to all, and "bag of myrrh" because of his suffering, death and the infamy represented by his cross, when he concentrated the inactive power of his divinity into his body …
The cluster of grapes in bloom, suspended from the branch, is not desired by everyone, because it fails to possess an immediate pleasure. Rare indeed are those who rejoice at postponing pleasures, for people attach themselves naturally to the preference of present enjoyment, just as …
For this reason it ought to be clear to your minds that the fig tree was an image of the law, just as it is certain that the cluster of grapes prefigured the Savior, as the church declares in the Canticle of Canticles: "My brother …
"It will lodge between my breasts," that is, in the governing part of my soul, which is located in the heart lying between the breasts. This indicates the fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by God, "I shall dwell and walk about among them, and I …
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 · Written in the 11th century.
Cyprus is an island in which more abundant vineyards grow than elsewhere. Therefore by Cyprus the universal Church is designated, which nourishes many vineyards, since divided into many churches, it produces the wine that gladdens the heart of man. Engaddi is interpreted as "fountain of …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
My beloved is to me a grape-cluster from Cyprus in the vineyards of Engaddi. And indeed, according to the surface of the letter, the sense of this verse is: Just as the Cyprus island is accustomed to produce clusters of grapes larger than other lands, …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 44 · Written before 1153.
proposed
1. "My beloved is to me a cluster of Cyprus in the vineyards of Engaddi" (Song 1:13). If the beloved is in myrrh, how much more in the sweetness of the cluster. Therefore my Lord Jesus, as myrrh to me in death, as a cluster …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi. Engedi was a place near Jericho, and famous for palm trees, as that was, hence called Hazazontamar, 2Ch 20:
We are not straitened in him whom there is all fulness. The word translated camphire is copher, the same word that signifies atonement or propitiation. Christ is a cluster of merit and righteousness to all believers; therefore he is dear to them because he is the propitiation for their sins.
Camphire - We are not concerned to know exactly what this was; it being confessed, that it was some grateful plant, and that it sets forth that great delight which the church hath in the enjoyment of Christ.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A cluster of camphire - Mr. Hasselquist supposes this to mean a bunch of the Cyprus grape; but this is supposed to mean a shrub so called, not any production of the isle of Cypress; the best kinds of which were found at En-gedi. This place belonged to the tribe of Judah. Perhaps the poet alludes to the dark color of the hair, which by the Greeks was not unfrequently compared to the bunches of grapes; by no means an unfit similitude for thick black clustering curls.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cluster--Jesus Christ is one, yet manifold in His graces. camphire--or, "cypress." The "hennah" is meant, whose odorous flowers grow in clusters, of a color white and yellow softly blended; its bark is dark, the foliage light green.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶשְׁכֹּ֨ל | ʾeshkol | [is] [the] cluster of | H811 → | 9 times |
| הַכֹּ֤פֶר׀ | hakofer | <the> henna blossom | H3724 → | |
| דּוֹדִי֙ | dodi | lover my | H1730 → | 61 times |
| לִ֔י | li | to <the> me | ||
| בְּכַרְמֵ֖י | bekharmei | in [the] vineyards of | H3754 → | 92 times |
| עֵ֥ין | ʾein | En | H5872 → | |
| גֶּֽדִי׃ ס | gedi | Gedi | H5872 → |
אֶשְׁכֹּ֨ל[is] [the] cluster of
ʾeshkolH811 →9 times
הַכֹּ֤פֶר׀<the> henna blossom
hakoferH3724 →
דּוֹדִי֙lover my
dodiH1730 →61 times
לִ֔יto <the> me
li
בְּכַרְמֵ֖יin [the] vineyards of
bekharmeiH3754 →92 times
עֵ֥יןEn
ʾeinH5872 →
גֶּֽדִי׃ סGedi
gediH5872 →
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 Samuel 23:29And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 20:2
Then some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the Sea; they are already in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi).
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joshua 15:62
Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi—six cities, along with their villages.
- 2 Chronicles 20:2
Through
Song of Solomon 2:3Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 8:5
Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.
- Isaiah 25:4
For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like…
- Hebrews 1:1–6
On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
- Isaiah 32:2
Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
- Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand…
- Song of Solomon 8:5
Through
Song of Solomon 1:13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts.
it leads to
- John 19:39
Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.
- John 19:39
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Song of Solomon
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 15 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 44; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 106:4; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Nilus of Sinai, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 29; Nilus of Sinai, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 31; Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1.