While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
Parallel translations
- WEB While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
- KJV While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
- NKJV While the king is at his table, My spikenard sends forth its fragrance.
- NASB ¶“While the king was at his table, My perfume gave forth its fragrance.
- NLT The king is lying on his couch, enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As the king reclines at his table, the bride's perfume fills the air. It pictures intimacy and the fragrance her love gives.
Overview
At the king's banquet her nard sends out its fragrance, conveying the sweetness she brings to their fellowship. The scene is warm and personal. Some read this of the believer whose devotion, like Mary's costly ointment poured on Christ, rises as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord (John 12:3; 2 Cor. 2:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- John 12:3Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
- Mark 14:3While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.
- Song 7:5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.
- Rev 8:3–4Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
- Matt 26:26–28While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
- Phil 4:18I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
- Ps 45:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies.” A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.
- Matt 25:34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Matt 22:11But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
- Luke 24:30–32While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them.
- Song 4:13–16Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,
- Matt 22:4Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.