Song of Solomon 1:17
in Song of Solomon 1The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The beams of our house are cedars, And our rafters are firs.
KJV
The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 1
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThe cedar is suitable for hanging roofs, because this type of wood is tall and spacious, but not burdensome to the walls. The cypress is also suitable for ceilings and gables. Hence, the Church says in the Canticles: "The beams of our houses are made of cedar, our ceilings of cypress," explaining that the decorations of its structure are in these, as if the beams sustain the crown of the Church with their own strength and adorn its peak.
This site's exposition
thou hast doves’ eyes
on Song of Solomon 1:15-17
Behold, thou art fair, my love is doubled for emphasis, and thou hast doves' eyes is answered at once by her own behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant, praise returned rather than merely received. Also our bed is green, the beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir describes no built palace but the outdoors itself furnished as a house, grass for a bed and standing trees for a roof. Bernard of Clairvaux, preaching on the Song's opening chapters, read the doves' eyes as the simplicity of a gaze fixed on Christ alone; the verses themselves picture two lovers content under open sky.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Kedar, from the Hebrew, is translated by the Latin word for dark (accordingly, Kedar among the city of the Gentiles at that time seethed with idolatry), for nothing is more forbidding than serving demons. Thus the Lord scolded the people of Israel through the prophet …
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
"The beams of our houses are of cedar, our paneled ceilings are of cypress." By the houses, we understand the many churches; by the cedar beams, we designate the preachers; by the cypress paneling, we represent the peoples themselves. For beams support the roof, while …
The beams of our houses are of cedar, etc. Indeed, he calls his houses the various assemblies of the faithful throughout the world, from all of which the universal Church consists. However, the beams and ceilings designate the various orders of the faithful in these …
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: …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The beams of our house are cedar,.... Or "houses" (k); where their bed was, and where they had fellowship and communion together.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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 galleries for walking are of fir, or cypress, some sort of wood that was pleasing both to the sight and to the smell, intimating the delight which the saints take in walking with Christ and conversing with him. Every thing in the covenant of grace (on which foot all their treaties are carried on) is very firm, very fine, and very fragrant.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
The beams of our house are cedar - Perhaps it was under a cedar tree whose vast limbs were interwoven with the ברות beroth, a tree of the cypress kind, where they now sat. And this natural bower recommended itself to the poet’s attention by its strength, loftiness, and its affording them a shady cover and cool retreat. How natural to break out into the praise of a bower, by whose branches and foliage we are shielded from the intense heat of the sun!
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In this verse there is an incidental allusion, in So 1:15, to the offering (Lu 2:24). So the "cedar and fir" ceiling refers to the temple (1Ki 5:6-10; 6:15-18); type of the heavenly temple (Re 21:22).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
our house--see on So 1:16; but primarily, the kiosk (Isa 11:10), "His rest." Cedar is pleasing to the eye and smell, hard, and never eaten by worms. fir--rather, "cypress," which is hard, durable, and fragrant, of a reddish hue [GESENIUS, WEISS, and MAURER]. Contrasted with the shifting "tents" (So 1:5), His house is "our house" (Ps 92:13;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קֹר֤וֹת | korot | [the] beams of | H6982 → | |
| בָּתֵּ֙ינוּ֙ | bateinu | houses our | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲרָזִ֔ים | ʾarazim | [are] cedar<s> | H730 → | 73 times |
| רַהִיטֵ֖נוּ | rachitenu | rafters our | H7351 → | |
| בְּרוֹתִֽים׃ | berotim | [are] cypress<es> | H1266 → |
קֹר֤וֹת[the] beams of
korotH6982 →
בָּתֵּ֙ינוּ֙houses our
bateinuH1004 →2046 times
אֲרָזִ֔ים[are] cedar<s>
ʾarazimH730 →73 times
רַהִיטֵ֖נוּrafters our
rachitenuH7351 →
בְּרוֹתִֽים׃[are] cypress<es>
berotimH1266 →
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 92:12The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:8
He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not…
- Psalms 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
- Psalms 104:16
The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,
- Psalms 52:8
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.
- Hosea 14:5–6
I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
- Jeremiah 17:8
Through
Hebrews 11:10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:14
For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
- Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- 2 Corinthians 5:1
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
- Hebrews 13:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
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About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation; 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; Gregory of Elvira, EXPLANATION OF THE SONG OF SONGS 1:28; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 1.