Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 7:5
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker (the Shulammite woman) addresses her beloved husband, continuing a sequence of physical praise that began in verse 4. This moment occurs during an intimate exchange celebrating marital beauty before the narrative shifts to direct praise in verse 6.
The words — The text highlights רֹאשֵׁׁךְ (rošêk, "your head") and אָסוּר ('āsûr, "bound" or "captured"). The phrase describes the head as crowned by height and the king as held captive by the beloved's hair.
The thread — The imagery of Carmel appears in Isaiah 35:2 to denote restored splendor, while the motif of being bound or captured echoes the wrestling struggle in Genesis 32:26. The comparison of hair to purple wool (כַּאַרְגָּמָן) parallels the royal dyeing practices noted in Song 4:1.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition of beauty as a tangible, awe-inspiring force that commands attention. It requires the reader to observe how physical description functions as a vehicle for honoring covenantal love without abstraction.
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
Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 35:2 It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
- Song of Solomon 4:1 How beautiful you are, my darling—how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
- Genesis 32:26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
- Psalms 68:24 They have seen Your procession, O God—the march of my God and King into the sanctuary.
- Psalms 87:2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
- Song of Solomon 1:17 The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.
- Song of Solomon 5:11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
- Micah 7:14 Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
- Matthew 18:20 For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”
- Matthew 28:20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”