Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 2:11
For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker, identified as the beloved in the preceding verse, addresses his darling to arise and come away now that the harsh season has ended. He marks this concrete temporal shift to issue an immediate invitation.
The words — The Hebrew סְתָיו עָבָר (se.tav 'a.Var) literally means "the winter has passed," while גֶשֶׁם חָלַף (Ge.shem cha.Laf) translates as "the rain has passed away." These terms establish a definitive boundary for the call to move forward.
The thread — The pattern of a closed season giving way to a new phase appears in Ecclesiastes 3:11 and the dawn imagery of Isaiah 60:1. The transition from darkness to light is later mirrored in Ephesians 5:8.
Why it lands — The text states that the obstructing conditions are finished and requires the reader to recognize the present moment as the point of action. It demands immediate response rather than waiting for conditions that no longer exist.
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
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
- Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- Isaiah 54:6 For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
- Ecclesiastes 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
- Isaiah 40:2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”
- Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Revelation 11:14 The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.