TRV
Translation
King James Version
Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
Complete Jewish Bible
Turn your eyes away from me, because they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Gil'ad.
Berean Standard Bible
Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
American Standard Version
Turn away thine eyes from me, For they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of Gilead.
World English Bible Messianic
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.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Thy teeth are like a flocke of sheepe, which goe vp from the washing, which euery one bring out twinnes, and none is barren among them.
Young's Literal Translation
Turn round thine eyes from before me, Because they have made me proud. Thy hair is as a row of the goats, That have shone from Gilead,
See also
In the KJVVerse 17,620 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers . Public domain.
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Gregory of NyssaAD 395
HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 15
A goat is honored because its thick coat provides an image of beauty for the bride. Another reason for praise is that a goat can pass over rocks with a sure foot, agilely turn on mountain peaks, courageously pass through difficult, rough places, and can go safely on the road of virtue. Some would maintain that this animal is suitable for the comparison with the bride because Moses the lawgiver uses it for many of the sacred functions of the law.
Ambrose of MilanAD 397
On Isaac and the Soul 7.57
So he says to her, as if to one who is perfect, … “Turn your eyes from me,” because she cannot withstand the fullness of his divinity and the splendor of the true light.Yet we can also take “turn your eyes from me” as follows: “Although you have been perfected, I must still redeem other souls and strengthen them. For you exalt me by looking upon me, but I have descended so that I may exalt all humankind. Although I have risen up and possess the throne of the Father, still I will not leave you orphans bereft of a father’s help, but by my presence I will strengthen you. You find this written in the gospel: ‘I am with you even unto the consummation of the world.’6 Turn your eyes from me, therefore, because you exalt me.” The more anyone strives toward the Lord, the more he exalts the Lord and is himself exalted. On this account also the psalmist says, “I will extol you, O Lord, because you have upheld me.” For the holy person extols the Lord; the sinner brings him low. Therefore he wishes that she turn her eyes away. Otherwise, by contemplating her he may be exalted—for now he can attain to the higher regions—and may leave the other souls behind. Likewise in the gospel he showed his glory, not to all the disciples but to those who were more nearly perfect.
Now imagine some teacher who desires to explain an obscure matter to his hearers. Although he is himself an accomplished speaker and well informed, nevertheless let him lower himself to the ignorance of those who do not understand, and let him use simple, rather plain, everyday speech so that he can be understood. Then whoever is more quick-witted among his hearers, and can follow easily, disparages and questions him. Looking on such a one, the teacher restrains him, so that the latter may permit him to spend time rather on those who are more humble and lowly, in order that the rest may also be able to follow.
Theodoret of CyrusAD 458
COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 6
“Turn your eyes away from me because they set me all aflutter.” What he means is something like this: the beauty of your eyes, the sharpness of your vision and the clarity of your thinking have drawn me to love of you; but do not gaze at me immoderately lest I take harm from it. After all, I am inaccessible and incomprehensible, surpassing all comprehension, not only human but also angelic. Even if you wish to surpass limits and pry into what is beyond your power, you would not only find nothing but would also impair your sight and render it dull. Such is the nature of light, after all: as it illumines the eye, so it penalizes intemperance with damage.
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Song of Songs
Hair like a flock of goats, etc. These verses and the following ones placed above have been fully explained to the best of our understanding; but let us not hesitate to reiterate in explanation what the author of the sacred song did not hesitate to repeat in writing, so that we may either recall what was said before to memory or, with the help of divine grace, do something new usefully. But that whether these or countless other things in the Scriptures that have already been said are repeated, is a sign of firmness because it is the word of God, and it is truly fulfilled, as the patriarch Joseph testifies explaining the king's dream. Therefore, in the hair of the bride is intimated the manifold sublimity of thoughts; in the teeth, however, the firmest stability of her words is intimated, because they cooperate in speaking with the lips and tongue, and they arise insensibly from the brain, nor do they hurt when cut. For who is wise and would mourn, and not rather rejoice, when the superfluous lightness of thoughts is taken away from him? Hence, in a great mystery, the teeth of the lawgiver are read as unmoved when he was full of days, and a razor did not ascend upon the head of Samuel, because he was a perpetual Nazarite to the Lord, that is, holy. For it was signified that not one jot or one tittle would pass from the law until all is fulfilled (Matthew V); and that in the prophetic mind, no cut should be made of penitence onto fleeting thoughts. However, the same hair of the bride is well likened to a flock of goats: for the law commanded that any soul which sins through ignorance, when it realizes its guilt, should offer a spotless goat to God as a sacrifice. And our hair is compared to a flock of goats when the errors of our thoughts offer tears of compunction and prayers in penance to the Lord as an offering. Moreover, it cannot inconveniently be understood that a flock of goats is placed for that which is accustomed to seek sustenance in the high places of rocks or bushes: for the thoughts of the elect, always striving for heavenly things, rejoice to be fed in the heights, not in low pleasures; of these goats, it is well added, that they appeared from Gilead: for Gilead means a heap of witness. And this term rightly designates the mind of the righteous when it proves by sure indications of virtues that it has renounced earthly desires; since the mountain Gilead got its name because Jacob and Laban made a heap in it, in testimony of their friendship or pact that they would not harm one another, when the same Laban had sought his idols with Jacob and did not find them. Therefore, Laban signifies the world, Jacob the mind supplanting vices. And Laban seeks his idols with Jacob and does not find them when the lovers of this world, examining the hearts of the elect, do not find anything of theirs in them. Jacob also makes a heap in testimony that he does not touch the substance and boundaries of Laban, when, having gathered in himself a wealth of virtues, like living stones, the devoted mind says to God, Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians III). And Laban brings stones for the construction of the same heap, when the world itself by its temptations provides an occasion for virtue to the faithful. A covenant is made between Laban and Jacob that they should not harm one another, while the just one declares and says: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians VI). From this heap, therefore, appears the flock of goats, to which the spouse's hair is compared, when from a faithful mind a multitude of frequent high thoughts is generated; and from this same flock, for those sins we have committed ignorantly, we offer an unblemished goat to God, when we punish our recognized sins with humble contrition of heart. However, Galaad is the name not only of the mountain, but also of the city founded upon it. Hence, rightly it can bear the figure of the Lord, our Savior, and of the Church or of any holy soul that is placed upon it. Indeed, above where it is added, “Your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mount Gilead,” we understood it as said of that incomparably high mountain, who said of Himself: “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” But here, where the name of the mountain is not mentioned, and it is simply said, "which appeared from Gilead," nothing prevents us from understanding it as said of the city built upon it, that is, the Church or a just soul. For a holy soul is rightly called a heap of testimony, which is built high with the collection of various virtues, and the whole Church is rightly called by this name, to whose peoples the Apostle Peter said: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones are being built up” (1 Peter II). This is also fitting for the Lord, as we said above, to whom the assembly of all the elect is gathered, who give testimony with a pure conscience by pious profession and good deeds. “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which have come up from the washing.” We said that in the teeth of the spouse, the words of the holy Church can be understood: rightly, therefore, they are said to be like a flock of sheep, because nothing in them, but the brightness of virtues and innocence is seen, while in all things they seek the grace of their Creator, either by teaching, or by praying, or by giving praises to Him; rightly, those sheep are said to have ascended from the washing, because nothing impure, nothing unclean, nothing that is not purified by the fountain of knowledge, is brought forth from the mouth of the just, according to the exhortation of the Apostle saying: “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers” (Ephesians IV). On the contrary, whoever brings forth filthy, or contemptuous, or harmful, or even idle words from his foul heart, his teeth are not likened to sheep coming up from the washing, but rather to pigs emerging from a wallow. It is fittingly added:
BedeAD 735
Commentary on the Song of Songs
Turn your eyes away from me, etc. As if it were openly said, "Indeed, I have given you dovelike eyes, by which you might know the secrets of the Scriptures, by which you might distinguish virtues from vices, by which you might know the paths of righteousness through which you would still come. But beware lest you seek to turn those same eyes to see me as well. For no man shall see my face and live (Exodus 33). For there will be a time when, released from fleshly bonds, you will come to me, and then what I promised will be fulfilled, because he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him (John 14). But now, while you are still established in the body and wandering away from perpetual goods, turn away the eyes of your mind from the contemplation of divine majesty and essence, because they have made me fly away, that is, those spiritual senses of yours, with which you have desired to know me perfectly, although they are very exalted, are not sufficient in this life to comprehend me perfectly, but can only reach to the extent that they might discern that the glory of the divine nature is of such sublimity that it cannot be seen, except by those who have been completely taken away from visible life and introduced into the invisible. Therefore, we are commanded at present to turn away the eyes of our inquiry from knowing the substance of God, because they have made him fly away from us, not that he, being sought, recedes further, who promises, saying, 'Seek, and ye shall find' (Luke 11); but that we may learn from him revealing, that the purer the heart with which he is sought, the more certainly it will be understood how incomprehensible he is. Which is similar to what the Psalmist says, 'Man approaches with a deep heart, and God will be exalted' (Psalm 63). As if it were said in other words, human frailty lifts up the eyes of the heart intent on seeing God, and they make him fly away, because by that same inquiry the senses, exercised and enlightened, recognize that the eminence of divinity is higher than they could previously think, and it is most truly said in another psalm, 'His greatness is without end' (Psalm 145). By this response, the Lord wished to satisfy the holy Church's desire, by which she was anxiously seeking him openly, and not in a riddle: longing to see him whom she loved, as the previous verses of this song declare abundantly. Therefore, he urges her not to seek in the way a reward which is reserved for her in the homeland, but to remember in the meantime that she must walk by faith, so that she may reach the vision: distinguishing these times very beautifully, as the evangelist John says: 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is' (1 John 3). But lest the Church might perhaps bear heavily that she could not yet enjoy the full contemplation of her Creator, he enumerates for her the manifold pledges of the spirit which he has bestowed upon her, so that she may more patiently bear the delay of that one supreme and singular good which she has not yet received, but is about to receive in the time of eternal recompense. For it follows:
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Song of Solomon 6:5 presents a powerful declaration of the King's profound admiration and intense captivation by the Shulamite's beauty. His plea to "turn away thine eyes" is a hyperbolic expression of her irresistible allure, signifying his complete enthrallment and the overwhelming effect her gaze has upon him. This declaration is immediately followed by a vivid, pastoral simile comparing her hair to "a flock of goats that appear from Gilead," a rich image celebrating its luxuriant, dark, and lively quality, underscoring the natural, abundant beauty that so deeply enchants him.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Song of Solomon 6:5 is rich in literary artistry, employing several devices to convey the King's profound admiration. The most prominent device is Hyperbole, evident in the King's declaration, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." This is an intentional exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally, but to emphasize the profound and overwhelming impact of the Shulamite's beauty on him, conveying a sense of being utterly captivated, almost to the point of delightful surrender. Secondly, a striking Simile is employed: "thy hair [is] as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead." This direct comparison, using "as," paints a vivid and culturally resonant picture of her hair, suggesting a dark, thick, abundant, and possibly wavy or cascading quality, full of movement and life, much like a thriving herd on a fertile hillside. The specific mention of "Gilead" adds rich Imagery that grounds the comparison in a culturally understood context of natural beauty, vitality, and abundance, evoking a sense of lushness and dynamic life. The entire verse functions as a powerful testament to the King's deep admiration, using evocative language to convey the Shulamite's captivating allure.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse, a profound expression of human love and admiration, offers rich theological parallels that reflect aspects of God's relationship with His people. The King's utter captivation by the Shulamite's beauty can be seen as a beautiful earthly reflection of God's profound delight in His church. Just as the King is "overcome" by the beloved, God expresses an intense, unwavering, and joyful love for His chosen ones, viewing them with immense pleasure and finding beauty in their redeemed state. This divine affection is not based on human merit but on His gracious election and transformative power, making His church radiant and spotless. The celebration of natural, vibrant beauty in the Song of Solomon also subtly points to the inherent goodness of God's creation and His design for intimate human relationships, which reflect aspects of His own relational nature and His delight in what He has made.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Song of Solomon 6:5 offers a profound model for expressing deep admiration and appreciation within intimate relationships. The King's words are not generic compliments but specific, heartfelt declarations that highlight what truly captivates him about the Shulamite. This encourages us to cultivate a habit of noticing and articulating the unique qualities we cherish in our loved ones, fostering deeper intimacy and connection. It reminds us that genuine affection often involves a sense of being "overcome" by the beloved's presence, a delightful surrender to their charm and beauty that enriches the relationship. For couples, this verse is an invitation to speak words that affirm, cherish, and celebrate the distinctiveness of their partner, recognizing that such expressions nourish the bond and deepen mutual appreciation. Beyond romantic love, it also prompts us to consider the immense beauty God sees in us – a beauty often hidden to our own eyes by self-doubt or sin – and to respond to His overwhelming love with trust, adoration, and a life lived in grateful surrender.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does the King ask the Shulamite to "turn away thine eyes"? Is he displeased or uncomfortable?
Answer: No, the King is not displeased or uncomfortable; quite the opposite. His plea to "turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me" is a hyperbolic expression of profound admiration and intense captivation. It signifies that her gaze is so beautiful and powerful that it utterly overwhelms him, rendering him completely smitten, enchanted, and delightfully helpless in her presence. It's a declaration of surrender to her irresistible charm, not a request for her to stop looking at him out of annoyance or disapproval. This is a common poetic device used to emphasize the intensity of emotion and the beloved's powerful allure throughout the Song of Solomon.
What is the significance of comparing her hair to "a flock of goats that appear from Gilead"?
Answer: This simile, while perhaps unusual to modern ears, was a high compliment in ancient Israel. Gilead was a fertile region known for its lush pastures and abundant, healthy flocks. Goats, particularly the black, long-haired varieties common in the Middle East, would appear dark, thick, and lustrous when seen grazing on hillsides. The phrase "appear from Gilead" suggests movement, vitality, and a natural, untamed beauty, possibly implying the goats were descending the hillsides, creating a flowing, dynamic image. Therefore, the comparison implies that the Shulamite's hair was luxuriant, abundant, dark, possibly wavy or cascading, and possessed a healthy sheen and lively movement, much like a thriving, vibrant herd. It speaks to a natural, robust, and captivating beauty that is full of life.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Song of Solomon 6:5, with its vivid portrayal of the King's overwhelming admiration for his beloved, finds a profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the relationship between Christ and His Church. Just as the King is utterly captivated by the Shulamite's beauty, so too is Christ captivated by His Bride, the Church. He does not see us in our sin and brokenness, but through the lens of His redeeming love and sacrifice, viewing us as radiant and without blemish, as described in Ephesians 5:25-27. The "overcoming" power of the Shulamite's eyes reflects the irresistible grace and spiritual beauty that Christ bestows upon His people, making them lovely in His sight, not by their own merit, but by His transforming work. Our "beauty" in Christ is not inherent but is a reflection of His glory and righteousness imputed to us (2 Corinthians 5:21). He delights in us, His chosen ones, with an eternal and unwavering love, eagerly awaiting the full consummation of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-8). Our response to His captivating love should be one of adoration and surrender, mirroring the King's profound enthrallment, as we are drawn ever closer to the One who first loved us (1 John 4:19).