Song of Solomon 6:2
in Song of Solomon 6My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My beloved is gone down to his garden, To the beds of spices, To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
KJV
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 6
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Nowhere else in the Song is there mention of mountains of spices. feed in . . . gardens--that is, in the churches, though He may have withdrawn for a time from the individual believer: she implies an invitation to the daughters of Jerusalem to enter His spiritual Church, and become lilies, made white by His blood.
This site's exposition
Where has your beloved gone
on Song of Solomon 6:1-2
The daughters, moved by her portrait, ask, "Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women?" and offer, "We will seek him with you". She answers from within the bond, "My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices," the garden of 4:12-16 and 5:1.
This site's exposition
to the beds of spices
The line moves from one garden to many gardens. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the plural as the many churches where he feeds while one believer feels him gone. Matthew Henry read gone down as condescension, the one who went up to paradise coming down to his garden on earth.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
To be fed in the gardens, etc. He is fed in the gardens, because He delights in the pious labors of the saints; He is fed in the gardens, because they are indeed His members to whom the fruits of righteousness come; and it should …
My beloved has gone down into his garden, etc. It is already known what the garden of the beloved is. For he himself said: A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. Certainly, his garden is the Church; his garden is each chosen soul. And …
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 6 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
The Beloved descends into his garden to the bed of spices, because in visiting the Church, he comes with greater grace to those whom he knows to send forth from themselves to their neighbors the fragrance of good reputation through holy works and examples of …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Christ's church is a garden enclosed, and separated from the open common of the world; it is his garden, which he has planted as he did the garden of Eden, which he takes care of, and delights in. Though he had gone up to the paradise above, yet he comes down to his garden on earth; it lies low, but he condescends to visit it, and wonderful condescension it is.
The garden may signify the church catholic, and the gardens, as it follows, as also the beds, the particular assemblies of the faithful, in which Christ affords his presence. Spices - In which the gifts and graces of God's spirit, fitly compared to spices, grow.
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
My beloved is gone down into his garden,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
My beloved is gone down into his garden - The answer of the bride to her companions.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
My beloved has gone down to his garden. He commanded us to build His Temple, and He will be there with us. 4 Alternatively, He has gone to the “Garden” of Eden. (Gra)
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Where has your beloved gone. The nations taunt and provoke Yisroel, “Where has your Beloved gone?” Why has He left you abandoned like a widow? 1 Alternatively, where has He gone? (Gra)
Who grazes among the roses. Who grazes his sheep in a calm and goodly pasture.
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. 3 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| דּוֹדִי֙ | dodi | lover my | H1730 → | 61 times |
| יָרַ֣ד | yarad | he has gone down | H3381 → | |
| לְגַנּ֔וֹ | legano | to garden his | H1588 → | 42 times |
| לַעֲרוּג֖וֹת | laarugot | to [the] beds of | H6170 → | |
| הַבֹּ֑שֶׂם | habosem | <the> spice | H1314 → | 29 times |
| לִרְעוֹת֙ | lirot | to graze | H7462 → | 177 times |
| בַּגַּנִּ֔ים | baganim | in the gardens | H1588 → | 42 times |
| וְלִלְקֹ֖ט | velilkot | and to gather | H3950 → | |
| שֽׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃ | shooshanim | lilies | H7799 → | 13 times |
דּוֹדִי֙lover my
dodiH1730 →61 times
יָרַ֣דhe has gone down
yaradH3381 →
לְגַנּ֔וֹto garden his
leganoH1588 →42 times
לַעֲרוּג֖וֹתto [the] beds of
laarugotH6170 →
הַבֹּ֑שֶׂם<the> spice
habosemH1314 →29 times
לִרְעוֹת֙to graze
lirotH7462 →177 times
בַּגַּנִּ֔יםin the gardens
baganimH1588 →42 times
וְלִלְקֹ֖טand to gather
velilkotH3950 →
שֽׁוֹשַׁנִּֽים׃lilies
shooshanimH7799 →13 times
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
Zephaniah 3:17The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
it leads to
- Psalms 149:4
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation.
- Psalms 147:11
The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.
- Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
- Isaiah 62:4–5
No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will…
- Jeremiah 32:41
Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
- Psalms 149:4
Through
Isaiah 58:11The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Jeremiah 31:12
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and…
- John 4:14
Through
John 14:3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to…
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Song of Solomon
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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 6.