Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 6:2
My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The woman answers the Shulamite women’s inquiry about her beloved’s location. She identifies his movement toward the cultivated gardens as the immediate context of her response.
The words — The text employs יָרַד (ya.Rad, “he has gone down”) and לִרְעוֹת (li/r.'Ot, “to graze”) to describe the beloved’s descent and activity. These verbs anchor the scene in literal agricultural labor rather than abstract metaphor.
The thread — The motifs of pasturing flocks and gathering lilies appear in Song of Solomon 1:7, Song of Solomon 2:1, and Song of Solomon 5:13. These references maintain a consistent pattern of agricultural and floral imagery throughout the book.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to first acknowledge the literal description of garden work before considering any secondary applications. It demands attention to the physical location of the gardens as the stated setting for the beloved’s 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
King James Version
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 5:13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
- Song of Solomon 1:7 Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
- Song of Solomon 2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.
- Song of Solomon 4:12 My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.
- Song of Solomon 6:11 I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.
- Isaiah 40:11 He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
- Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous are taken away from the presence of evil.
- Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
- Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
- Ezekiel 34:23 I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.