Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
Parallel translations
- WEB Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.
- KJV Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
- NKJV Turn your eyes away from me, For they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats Going down from Gilead.
- NASB “Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Gilead.
- NLT Turn your eyes away, for they overpower me. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
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 says her eyes overwhelm him and again praises her flowing hair. Her beauty has a powerful, captivating effect on him.
Overview
To say her eyes 'overcome' or 'overwhelm' him expresses how deeply her beauty moves him. The repeated praise of her hair (cf. 4:1) shows his delight returning to what he had already admired. The verse pictures the glad, captive devotion of true love a love that, in the gospel, finds its highest analogue in Christ's delight over his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Exod 32:10Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Jer 15:1Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.
- Gen 32:26–28Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
- Song 4:1–3How beautiful you are, my darling—how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
- Matt 15:27–28“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
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 6:5 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.