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?
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?
- BSB How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?
- 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 thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
- Song 6:1Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
- Song 6:9–10My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
- Ps 87:3Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
- Ps 45:13The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
- Isa 53:2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
- Matt 16:13–17When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
- Matt 21:10And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
- 2 Cor 4:3–6But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
- John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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.