How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?
Parallel translations
- WEB How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us?
- KJV What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?
- NKJV What is your beloved More than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved More than another beloved, That you so charge us? The Shulamite
- NASB ¶“What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, That you make us swear in this way?”
- NLT Why is your lover better than all others, O woman of rare beauty? What makes your lover so special that we must promise this?
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 daughters of Jerusalem ask what makes her beloved so superior to others. It invites her to declare his unmatched worth.
Overview
Struck by her earnest plea, they ask how her beloved excels any other, prompting her famous praise of him that follows. The question opens the way for a testimony to his surpassing excellence. It pictures the moment when others, seeing a believer's devotion, ask what makes the Lord so worthy, an invitation to commend Him (1 Pet. 3:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Song 1:8If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.
- Song 6:1Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.
- Song 6:9–10but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises.
- Ps 87:3Glorious things are ascribed to you, O city of God. Selah
- Ps 45:13All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.
- Isa 53:2He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
- Matt 16:13–17When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
- Matt 21:10When Jesus had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
- 2 Cor 4:3–6And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
- John 1:14The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Resources, by level
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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 5:9 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.