I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
- KJV I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
- NKJV I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. (To His Friends) Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones! The Shulamite
- NASB “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and drink deeply, lovers.”
- NLT I have entered my garden, my treasure, my bride! I gather myrrh with my spices and eat honeycomb with my honey. I drink wine with my milk. Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love!
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
The beloved enters his garden and enjoys its fruits, and the company is bidden to feast. It celebrates the consummation and joy of their love.
Overview
He comes into his garden, gathers its myrrh, honey, wine, and milk, and a chorus urges friends to eat and drink abundantly. This central verse marks the fullness of their united love, blessed and shared with others. The joyful feast of love has been read as a picture of the communion and abundant joy the Lord shares with His people (Isa. 25:6; Rev. 19:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 36
- Song 6:2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
- Song 4:16Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choicest fruits.
- Rev 22:17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.
- Song 4:9–14You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.
- Isa 51:3For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Isa 55:1–2“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- Isa 61:11For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
- Song 8:13You who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice. Let me hear it!
- Isa 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.
- Isa 66:14When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.
- Prov 9:5“Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.
- Isa 62:8–9The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.
- Luke 12:4I tell you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.
- Isa 65:13Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
- John 15:14–15You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- Luke 15:9–10And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to say, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin.’
- John 3:29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
- Acts 11:29So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
- Eph 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
- Isa 53:11After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.
- 1 Th 3:8–9For now we can go on living, as long as you are standing firm in the Lord.
- Deut 26:10–14And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, O LORD, have given me.” Then you are to place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before Him.
- John 14:21–23Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
- Isa 5:1I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
- Deut 16:13–17You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.
- Luke 15:6–7comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’
- Ps 16:3As for the saints in the land, they are the excellence in whom all my delight resides.
- Heb 2:12–14He says: “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing Your praises in the assembly.”
- Song 6:11I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.
- Matt 25:40And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
- Song 8:1O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
- Zech 9:15–17The LORD of Hosts will shield them. They will destroy and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and roar as with wine. And they will be filled like sprinkling bowls, drenched like the corners of the altar.
- Isa 23:18Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
- 2 Cor 9:11–15You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God.
- 2 Chr 31:6–10And the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things consecrated to the LORD their God, and they laid them in large heaps.
- Ps 147:11The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.
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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 5:1 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.