Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 1:16
How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how delightful! The soft grass is our bed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses his lover in direct response to her earlier praise, shifting the focus from her physical features to their shared outdoor setting.
The words — The Hebrew יָפֶה (yāp̄eh) denotes objective handsomeness, while רַעֲנָנָה (raʿănanāh) literally describes the grass as luxuriant or freshly green.
The thread — The emphasis on mutual delight and natural abundance parallels the aesthetic praise in Song of Solomon 2:3, the royal beauty motif of Psalms 45:2, and the flourishing imagery of Zechariah 9:17.
Why it lands — The text explicitly describes physical attraction and unadorned outdoor intimacy before interpreters map allegorical or covenantal meanings onto the grass or the bed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
- Psalms 45:2 You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Zechariah 9:17 How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
- Psalms 110:3 Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.
- Song of Solomon 3:7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.
- Song of Solomon 5:10 My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
- Philippians 3:8 More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- Revelation 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels encircling the throne, and the living creatures and the elders. And their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.