Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Song of Solomon 6:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse asks the woman to turn her eyes because they overwhelm the speaker, then repeats the goat-hair image.
Read It With
- Song of Solomon 6:4-10
Read Song of Solomon 6:5 with 6:4-10. This verse asks the woman to turn her eyes because they overwhelm the speaker, then repeats the goat-hair image. The complete unit establishes this movement: The lover repeats and intensifies praise, saying the woman's gaze overwhelms him and her uniqueness outshines a royal multitude, while daughters, queens, and concubines join the blessing.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Repeated images create editorial cohesion, while the new city, army, royal-harem, mother, dawn, moon, and sun images enlarge the praise beyond private beauty. Within that movement, this verse asks the woman to turn her eyes because they overwhelm the speaker, then repeats the goat-hair image.
Follow the Context
- The woman is compared to Tirzah, Jerusalem, and bannered awe.
- Her eyes overcome the speaker and earlier hair, teeth, and temple images return.
- Sixty queens, eighty concubines, and innumerable maidens form a contrast.
- The beloved is called one, unique to her mother, blessed by daughters, and praised by royal women.
- A final question compares her emergence to dawn, moon, sun, and banners.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“they have overcome me”
In plain language: her eyes overwhelm, alarm, or unnerve the speaker
asks the woman to turn her eyes because they overwhelm the speaker, then repeats the goat-hair image. The man describes his own vulnerability to her gaze rather than claiming control of it.
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
Being overwhelmed does not justify controlling where someone looks, what they wear, or whom they see.
What Remains True
The man describes his own vulnerability to her gaze rather than claiming control of it.
How It Can Shape Life
- Own emotional overwhelm and request space without blaming the other person.
Teach It Back
Explain Song of Solomon 6:5's contribution to Song of Solomon 6:4-10: asks the woman to turn her eyes because they overwhelm the speaker, then repeats the goat-hair image. 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 6:4-10 — One Beloved Amid Royal MultitudesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Turn away can be playful praise or a genuine request, and the rare verb's force is debated.
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 6:4-10, 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, 6:4-10
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. 1250-1251, translation and notes on 6:4-10
Open source ↗