Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Song of Solomon 1:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse compares the beloved to a myrrh sachet resting between her breasts overnight.
Read It With
- Song of Solomon 1:9-17
Read Song of Solomon 1:13 with 1:9-17. This verse compares the beloved to a myrrh sachet resting between her breasts overnight. The complete unit establishes this movement: The lovers answer one another with extravagant animal, jewelry, perfume, landscape, and architectural images until their imagined meeting place becomes a living outdoor house.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The first sustained dialogue lets each lover receive and return praise, establishing mutual attention as a recurring mode of the collection. Within that movement, this verse compares the beloved to a myrrh sachet resting between her breasts overnight.
Follow the Context
- A masculine-coded voice compares the woman to a mare amid Pharaoh's chariots.
- Jewelry and promised adornment amplify public beauty.
- A feminine-coded voice answers with nard, myrrh, henna, and bodily nearness.
- They exchange beauty claims and imagine bed, beams, and rafters in living nature.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“bundle of myrrh”
In plain language: a fragrant sachet worn close to the body
compares the beloved to a myrrh sachet resting between her breasts overnight. The woman voices bodily nearness through fragrance and an intimate image.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk requiring the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
An intimate metaphor does not authorize sexual access or public exposure of someone's private speech.
What Remains True
The woman voices bodily nearness through fragrance and an intimate image.
How It Can Shape Life
- Receive erotic speech as the speaker's chosen expression, not as permission for an outsider.
Teach It Back
Explain Song of Solomon 1:13's contribution to Song of Solomon 1:9-17: compares the beloved to a myrrh sachet resting between her breasts overnight. Include what the surrounding lines add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Song of Solomon 1:9-17 — Mutual Praise Builds an Open-Air HomeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The image may be imagined, metaphorical, or connected with an actual perfume sachet.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Song of Solomon 1:9-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 1:9-17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: The Song of Songs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1230-1232, translation and notes on 1:9-17
Open source ↗