Song of Solomon 4:8-5:1, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Song of Solomon 4:8-5:1
Invitation, Sealed Garden, and Welcomed Entry
From Lebanon he calls her, and her love is answered in her own coin
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, from the peak of Amana, Shenir, and Hermon, from lions' dens and leopard mountains. Sister and spouse in this lyric are Near Eastern love-speech for intimacy and chosen nearness, not a family plot. He says she has ravished his heart with one look, one bead of her necklace. Her love is better than wine; her oils outsmell all spices; milk and honey are under her tongue; her garments smell like Lebanon. The man now says what she said of him in the opening kisses. Desire has become echo, not conquest.
A locked garden stays locked until she invites him in
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Pomegranates, henna, nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, aloes: she is imagined as orchard and water, but the fountain is sealed. Then her voice: Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. He answers that he has come, gathered, eaten, drunk. Friends are told to eat and drink abundantly. Entry follows her invitation. The sealed place was hers to open.
How this should shape us
Do not turn a locked garden into a riddle that men get to solve with force. Wait for a clear welcome, and do not call a later church allegory a reason to skip her yes.
Teach it back
Explain Song of Solomon 4:8-5:1 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: Anthology and unified-poem readings differ over plot; interpreters disagree over marriage, the exact sexual referent, voice in 5:1c, and how literally to read consummation. The invitation-response sequence is textually strong.
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 4:8-5:1, 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, 4:8-5:1
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1243-1245, translation and notes on 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
Supports: Women's movement, city space, watchmen, social vulnerability, maternal space, and the limits of the Song's counterworld.
Erzberger, 'Public space in the Song of Songs,' OTE 24.2 (2011), pp. 346-362, especially pp. 352-357; applied to 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1, 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, 4:8-5:1
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. 1243-1245, translation and notes on 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
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 4:8-5:1
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
I Sought Him, But Found Him Not (Song 5:6): Public Space in the Song of Songs
Johanna Erzberger
Old Testament Essays 24.2, 2011
Supports: Women's movement, city space, watchmen, social vulnerability, maternal space, and the limits of the Song's counterworld.
Exact location: Erzberger, 'Public space in the Song of Songs,' OTE 24.2 (2011), pp. 346-362, especially pp. 352-357; applied to 4:8-5:1
Open source ↗