Song of Solomon 1:7
in Song of Solomon 1Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions?
KJV
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
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This verse in Song of Solomon 1
Commentary
4 notes on this verseBecause Abraham received the angels at noon, and Joseph invited his brothers to a meal at noon. For both Abraham and Joseph were holy, and therefore their banquet was in clear light and full sun, therefore they feed at noon. And I too, if I have full knowledge of the Scriptures, although it be the third hour, nevertheless I feed you at noon. Indeed even the bride in the Song of Songs says: "Where do you feed, she says, where do you lie down at noon?"
This site's exposition
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth
on Song of Solomon 1:7-8
The bride asks where he shepherds his flock at noon, unwilling to go veiled and wandering among his companions' flocks in search of him. The reply sends her to the flock's own footsteps and the shepherds' tents, an ordinary answer that keeps the poem inside a real pastoral world rather than a palace alone. Wesley and Henry both read the exchange as courtship's plain speech, one wanting the other's company without contrivance or delay.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Tell me - where thou feedest - This is spoken as if the parties were shepherds, or employed in the pastoral life. But how this would apply either to Solomon, or the princes of Egypt, is not easy to ascertain. Probably in the marriage festival there was something like our masks, in which persons of quality assumed rural characters and their employments. See that fine one composed by Milton, called Comus. To rest at noon - In hot countries the shepherds and their flocks are obliged to retire to shelter during the burning heats of the noon-day sun.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Re 14:4). feedest--tendest thy flock (Isa 40:11; No single type expresses all the office of Jesus Christ; hence arises the variety of diverse images used to portray the manifold aspects of Him: these would be quite incongruous, if the Song referred to the earthly Solomon. Her intercourse with Him is peculiar.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַגִּ֣ידָה | hagidah | tell ! | H5046 → | |
| לִּ֗י | li | to me | ||
| שֶׁ֤אָהֲבָה֙ | sheahavah | [O] whom it loves | H157 → | 211 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֔י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אֵיכָ֣ה | ʾeikhah | where? | H349 → | 82 times |
| תִרְעֶ֔ה | tireh | will you graze | H7462 → | 177 times |
| אֵיכָ֖ה | ʾeikhah | where? | H349 → | 82 times |
| תַּרְבִּ֣יץ | tarbitz | will you make [them] lie down | H7257 → | |
| בַּֽצָּהֳרָ֑יִם | batzohorayim | at <the> noon<s> | H6672 → | |
| שַׁלָּמָ֤ה | shalamah | which to why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֶֽהְיֶה֙ | ʾehyeh | will I be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּעֹ֣טְיָ֔ה | keoteyah | like a veiled [woman] | H5844 → | |
| עַ֖ל | ʾal | with | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עֶדְרֵ֥י | ʾedrei | [the] flocks of | H5739 → | 38 times |
| חֲבֵרֶֽיךָ׃ | chavereikha | companions your | H2270 → |
הַגִּ֣ידָהtell !
hagidahH5046 →
לִּ֗יto me
li
שֶׁ֤אָהֲבָה֙[O] whom it loves
sheahavahH157 →211 times
נַפְשִׁ֔יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
אֵיכָ֣הwhere?
ʾeikhahH349 →82 times
תִרְעֶ֔הwill you graze
tirehH7462 →177 times
אֵיכָ֖הwhere?
ʾeikhahH349 →82 times
תַּרְבִּ֣יץwill you make [them] lie down
tarbitzH7257 →
בַּֽצָּהֳרָ֑יִםat <the> noon<s>
batzohorayimH6672 →
שַׁלָּמָ֤הwhich to why?
shalamahH4100 →752 times
אֶֽהְיֶה֙will I be
ʾehyehH1961 →3559 times
כְּעֹ֣טְיָ֔הlike a veiled [woman]
keoteyahH5844 →
עַ֖לwith
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
עֶדְרֵ֥י[the] flocks of
ʾedreiH5739 →38 times
חֲבֵרֶֽיךָ׃companions your
chavereikhaH2270 →
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 28:1To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
it leads to
- Psalms 143:7
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Psalms 88:4–6
I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
- Proverbs 1:12
let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
- Psalms 83:1
O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.
- Psalms 143:7
Through
Isaiah 13:20She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:43
Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.
- Isaiah 14:23
“I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 51:43
Through
Genesis 37:16“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
it leads to
- Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
- Luke 19:10
Where this verse is studied
1 study on this verse
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About Song of Solomon
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20 (Psalm 90); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.