Song of Solomon 2:1-7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Song of Solomon 2:1-7
Flowers, Shade, Embrace, and the First Refrain
Wildflowers, shade, fruit, and a banner named love
She calls herself the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys: common hillside bloom, not a rare hothouse. He answers that she is a lily among thorns compared with other young women. She answers him as an apple tree among the trees of the wood: shade, sweet fruit, a place to sit with delight. He has brought her to the house of wine; his banner over her is love. She is faint with love and asks to be stayed with cakes of raisins and apples. Left hand under her head, right hand embracing: the lyric holds an actual clasp.
The first refrain will not let love be poked awake
She charges the daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles and the does of the field not to stir up nor awaken love until it please. The oath is taken by shy field animals, not by palace weapons. After want, shade, and embrace, the poem still refuses forced waking. Love has timing that does not belong to an audience.
How this should shape us
Honor desire that has already spoken, and honor the pause the speaker sets around it. Do not treat faintness, fruit, or an embrace as a cue for onlookers to push two people further than they have chosen.
Teach it back
Explain Song of Solomon 2:1-7 in your own words. Include its lyric movement, one material uncertainty, and one coercive or reductive use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The refrain may mean do not awaken love prematurely, do not wake the beloved, or do not interrupt the lovers. The package retains the first and third as leading options and treats non-coercion as an ethical boundary, not a lexical proof.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Song of Solomon 2:1-7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 2:1-7
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1232-1237, translation and notes on 2:1-7
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 2:1-7
Supports: Leading alternatives for the gazelle adjurations: do not awaken prematurely, do not interrupt, or do not wake the beloved.
Viviers, 'The refrain in Song of Songs 2:7; 3:5; 8:4,' OTE 2.2 (1989), pp. 1-10, especially pp. 2-8; applied to 2:1-7
Supports: Sensory metaphor, wasf, mutual desire, garden imagery, and the limits of literalizing erotic poetry.
Van der Merwe, 'The erotic power of metaphor,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-9, especially pp. 4-7; applied to 2:1-7
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 2:1-7
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 2:1-7, 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, 2:1-7
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. 1232-1237, translation and notes on 2:1-7
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
The Song of Solomon
Athalya Brenner
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Exact location: Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 2:1-7
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
The adjuration refrain in Song of Songs 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4: Do not awaken love prematurely or do not disturb us in our love
H. Viviers
Skrif en Kerk 10.1, hosted by Verbum et Ecclesia, 1989
Supports: Leading alternatives for the gazelle adjurations: do not awaken prematurely, do not interrupt, or do not wake the beloved.
Exact location: Viviers, 'The refrain in Song of Songs 2:7; 3:5; 8:4,' OTE 2.2 (1989), pp. 1-10, especially pp. 2-8; applied to 2:1-7
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Erotic fantasy, spirituality and Song of Songs
Dirk G. van der Merwe
Verbum et Ecclesia 38.2, 2017
Supports: Sensory metaphor, wasf, mutual desire, garden imagery, and the limits of literalizing erotic poetry.
Exact location: Van der Merwe, 'The erotic power of metaphor,' HTS 73.3 (2017), pp. 1-9, especially pp. 4-7; applied to 2:1-7
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Is the woman in the Song of Songs really that free?
S. S. Ndoga and H. Viviers
HTS Teologiese Studies 56.4, 2000
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Exact location: Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 2:1-7
Open source ↗