Song of Solomon 1:16
in Song of Solomon 1How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: Also our couch is green.
KJV
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verseBehold, you are beautiful, my beloved, and comely. As if it openly says: Indeed whatever beauty, simplicity, and spiritual grace I have, I have certainly received this through you, by whom I have also obtained forgiveness of sins and the efficacy of good action. But …
This site's exposition
How beautiful you are, my darling!
on Song of Solomon 1:15-17
"How beautiful you are, my darling" is doubled for emphasis, and she answers with "How handsome you are, my beloved," so the praise is returned. "The soft grass is our bed" and "our rafters are fragrant firs" furnish the outdoors as a house, standing trees for a roof.
This site's exposition
The soft grass is our bed
The Hebrew word for bed usually means a mattress. Adam Clarke took it here as a green bank where the couple sat during a walk in the country. Bede heard in her answer an admission that any beauty she had came to her through him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church4 voices
Our bed is in bloom. For sometimes the holy Church, as though in a bed with the Lord, indeed her Bridegroom, rests; sometimes it stands with Him against the enemies in the battlefield; it stands in the battlefield when, in the face of sharper assaults …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 46 · Written before 1153.
proposed
"Our little bed is flowering, the beams of our houses are of cedar, our paneled ceilings are of cypress" (Song 1:16-17). She sings a wedding hymn, describing the couch and the chambers in beautiful speech. She invites the Bridegroom to rest. For this is better: …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 45 · Written before 1153.
proposed
I do not think, brothers, I do not think this vision is a mediocre one, nor common to all, even though it be inferior to that by which he is to be seen in the future. For notice from what follows. For it continues: "Behold …
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
The beloved is called beautiful and comely, because in both his divinity and humanity he is beheld without any stain of reproach by every mind that loves him. While the bride follows him with full desire, she forgets all the disturbances of the world; and …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I am but a faint and imperfect copy, I am but thy umbra -- the shadow of thee, John i. Thou art fair in thyself and (which is more) pleasant to all that are thine. Many are fair enough to look at, and yet the sourness of their temper renders them unpleasant; but thou art fair, yea, pleasant. " Christ is pleasant, as he is ours, in covenant with us, in relation to us.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
7 ), so believers are joint-heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. They are his institutions and their privileges; in them Christ and believers meet. She does not call them mine, for a believer will own nothing as his but what Christ shall have an interest in, nor thine, for Christ has said, All that I have is thine, Luke xv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
Behold - The church here again speaks, and retorts Christ's words; thou, and thou only art fair indeed. Pleasant - As thou art beautiful in thyself, so thou art amiable and pleasant in thy condescention to me. Bed - This seems to denote the place where the church enjoys sweet fellowship with Christ, by his spirit accompanying his ordinances.
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved,....
The subject is pleasing, and therefore fit to be treated of in a song, in singing which we may make melody with our hearts unto the Lord. It is evangelical; and gospel-times should be times of joy, for gospel-grace puts a new song into our mouths, Ps. xcviii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Also our bed is green - ערס eres, from its use in several places of the Hebrew Bible, generally signifies a mattress; and here probably a green bank is meant, on which they sat down, being now on a walk in the country. Or it may mean a bower in a garden, or the nuptial bed.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנְּךָ֨ | hinekha | here you | H2005 → | 316 times |
| יָפֶ֤ה | yapeh | [are] beautiful | H3303 → | 42 times |
| דוֹדִי֙ | dodi | O lover my | H1730 → | 61 times |
| אַ֣ף | ʾaf | also | H637 → | |
| נָעִ֔ים | naim | pleasant | H5273 → | |
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | also | H637 → | |
| עַרְשֵׂ֖נוּ | ʾarsenu | bed our | H6210 → | |
| רַעֲנָנָֽה׃ | raananah | [is] luxuriant | H7488 → |
הִנְּךָ֨here you
hinekhaH2005 →316 times
יָפֶ֤ה[are] beautiful
yapehH3303 →42 times
דוֹדִי֙O lover my
dodiH1730 →61 times
אַ֣ףalso
ʾafH637 →
נָעִ֔יםpleasant
naimH5273 →
אַף־also
ʾaf-H637 →
עַרְשֵׂ֖נוּbed our
ʾarsenuH6210 →
רַעֲנָנָֽה׃[is] luxuriant
raananahH7488 →
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
Psalms 45:2You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.
it leads to
- Luke 4:22
All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.
- Song of Solomon 5:10–16
My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
- Psalms 21:6
For You grant him blessings forever; You cheer him with joy in Your presence.
- John 7:46
“Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
- Hebrews 7:26
Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
- Luke 4:22
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.
- Song of Solomon 8:5
Through
Zechariah 9:17How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:8–11
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
- Isaiah 33:17
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
- 1 John 4:8–11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 9 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; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 46; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 45; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1.