Song of Solomon 2:9

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — The speaker describes her beloved's position just after he is heard leaping across the landscape and immediately before he calls her to arise and depart.

The words — The text uses דּוֹמֶ֤ה (do.Meh), meaning "[is] like," to establish a direct comparison, and הִנֵּה־ (hi.neh-), meaning "there!" or "look," to direct attention to the beloved's location behind the wall.

The thread — The gazelle and young stag imagery reappears in Song of Solomon 8:14 and Song of Solomon 2:17 as a motif for urgent movement, while 2 Samuel 2:18 applies the gazelle to describe Asahel's physical speed.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge the spatial barrier between the speaker and the beloved, framing the subsequent call to leave as a necessary response to his visible but obstructed presence.

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

דּוֹמֶ֤הdo.Meh[is] like דוֹדִי֙do.D/ilover/ my לִצְבִ֔יli/tz.Vi<to>/ a gazelle א֖וֹ'oor לְעֹ֣פֶרle./'O.fer<to>/ [the] fawn of הָֽאַיָּלִ֑יםha./'ai.ya.Limthe/ deer<s>הִנֵּה־hi.neh-there!זֶ֤הzehthis עוֹמֵד֙o.Med[is] standing אַחַ֣ר'a.Charbehind כָּתְלֵ֔נוּka.te.Le./nuwall/ our מַשְׁגִּ֙יחַ֙mash.Gi.ach[is] gazing מִן־min-from הַֽחֲלֹּנ֔וֹתha./cha.lo.Notthe/ windows מֵצִ֖יץme.Tzitz[is] peering מִן־min-from הַֽחֲרַכִּֽים׃Ha./cha.ra.Kimthe/ lattices

King James Version

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

Cross-references

Song of Solomon 8:14 Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
Song of Solomon 2:17 Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.
2 Samuel 2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle,
Luke 24:35 Then the two told what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
John 5:39 You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,
John 5:46 If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.
John 12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.
1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
2 Corinthians 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.
Ephesians 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility