Song of Solomon 5:13
What does Song of Solomon 5:13 mean?
A plain-English look at Song of Solomon 5:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Song of Solomon 5:13 means
His cheeks are like beds of spice, banks of sweet herbs—suggesting a face that exudes pleasant fragrance and cultivated charm. His lips are like lilies, dripping liquid myrrh; the image mingles beauty and costly sweetness. Whether the focus is the kiss’s taste or the scent he carries, the point is clear: his nearness delights. The language treats his face as a garden tended and precious, a place of rest and richness. She recalls not only how he looks but how his presence fills the senses with pleasure and comfort.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000His cheeks are as a bed of spices, Asbanks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
KJV
King James Version · 1611His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901His cheeks are as a bed of spices, Asbanks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949His face is as beds of spices, giving out perfumes of every sort; his lips like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862His cheeks as a bed of the spice, towers of perfumes, His lips <FI>are<Fi> lilies, dropping flowing myrrh,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers. His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrh.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890His cheeks are as a bed of spices, raised beds of sweet plants; His lips lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
Context
With eyes described, the bride moves to cheeks and lips, keeping to a garden theme that has appeared throughout the Song. Fragrance and sweetness now dominate the scene, echoing earlier mentions of myrrh in this chapter. The portrait will continue with hands and torso—symbols of action and strength—so that beauty and power, gentleness and grandeur, are all held together in the man she seeks.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Song of Solomon 2:1
I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys.
- Revelation 21:23
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.
- Isaiah 50:6
I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
- Song of Solomon 5:5
I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.
- Psalms 89:15
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.
- Isaiah 50:4
The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught.
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