Song of Solomon 1:16
How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
BSB
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.
Behold, 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 …
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.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 45:2You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.
leads to
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.
My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
For You grant him blessings forever; You cheer him with joy in Your presence.
“Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
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.
leads to
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.
Through
Zechariah 9:17How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
leads to
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
