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Selected Verse: Song of solomon 5:14 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
So 5:14	Strong Concordance	His hands [03027] are as gold [02091] rings [01550] set [04390] with the beryl [08658]: his belly [04578] is as bright [06247] ivory [08127] overlaid [05968] with sapphires [05601].
	King James	His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
rings set with . . . beryl--Hebrew, Tarshish, so called from the city. The ancient chrysolite, gold in color (Septuagint), our topaz, one of the stones on the high priest's breastplate, also in the foundation of New Jerusalem (Rev 21:19-20; also Dan 10:6). "Are as," is plainly to be supplied, see in Sol 5:13 a similiar ellipsis; not as MOODY STUART: "have gold rings." The hands bent in are compared to beautiful rings, in which beryl is set, as the nails are in the fingers. BURROWES explains the rings as cylinders used as signets, such as are found in Nineveh, and which resemble fingers. A ring is the token of sonship (Luk 15:22). A slave was not allowed to wear a gold ring. He imparts His sonship and freedom to us (Gal 4:7); also of authority (Gen 41:42; compare Joh 6:27). He seals us in the name of God with His signet (Rev 7:2-4), compare below, Sol 8:6, where she desires to be herself a signet-ring on His arms; so "graven on the palms," &c., that is, on the signet-ring in His hand (Isa 49:16; contrast Hag 2:23, with Jer 22:24). belly--BURROWES and MOODY STUART translate, "body." NEWTON, as it is elsewhere, "bowels"; namely, His compassion (Psa 22:14; Isa 63:15; Jer 31:20; Hos 11:8). bright--literally, "elaborately wrought so as to shine," so His "prepared" body (Heb 10:5); the "ivory palace" of the king (Psa 45:8); spotless, pure, so the bride's "neck is as to tower of ivory" (Sol 7:4). sapphires--spangling in the girdle around Him (Dan 10:5). "To the pure all things are pure." As in statuary to the artist the partly undraped figure is suggestive only of beauty, free from indelicacy, so to the saint the personal excellencies of Jesus Christ, typified under the ideal of the noblest human form. As, however, the bride and bridegroom are in public, the usual robes on the person, richly ornamented, are presupposed (Isa 11:5). Sapphires indicate His heavenly nature (so Joh 3:13, "is in heaven"), even in His humiliation, overlaying or cast "over" His ivory human body (Exo 24:10). Sky-blue in color, the height and depth of the love of Jesus Christ (Eph 3:18).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

rings set with . . . beryl--Hebrew, Tarshish, so called from the city. The ancient chrysolite, gold in color (Septuagint), our topaz, one of the stones on the high priest's breastplate, also in the foundation of New Jerusalem (Rev 21:19-20; also Dan 10:6). "Are as," is plainly to be supplied, see in Sol 5:13 a similiar ellipsis; not as MOODY STUART: "have gold rings." The hands bent in are compared to beautiful rings, in which beryl is set, as the nails are in the fingers. BURROWES explains the rings as cylinders used as signets, such as are found in Nineveh, and which resemble fingers. A ring is the token of sonship (Luk 15:22). A slave was not allowed to wear a gold ring. He imparts His sonship and freedom to us (Gal 4:7); also of authority (Gen 41:42; compare Joh 6:27). He seals us in the name of God with His signet (Rev 7:2-4), compare below, Sol 8:6, where she desires to be herself a signet-ring on His arms; so "graven on the palms," &c., that is, on the signet-ring in His hand (Isa 49:16; contrast Hag 2:23, with Jer 22:24).

belly--BURROWES and MOODY STUART translate, "body." NEWTON, as it is elsewhere, "bowels"; namely, His compassion (Psa 22:14; Isa 63:15; Jer 31:20; Hos 11:8).

bright--literally, "elaborately wrought so as to shine," so His "prepared" body (Heb 10:5); the "ivory palace" of the king (Psa 45:8); spotless, pure, so the bride's "neck is as to tower of ivory" (Sol 7:4).

sapphires--spangling in the girdle around Him (Dan 10:5). "To the pure all things are pure." As in statuary to the artist the partly undraped figure is suggestive only of beauty, free from indelicacy, so to the saint the personal excellencies of Jesus Christ, typified under the ideal of the noblest human form. As, however, the bride and bridegroom are in public, the usual robes on the person, richly ornamented, are presupposed (Isa 11:5). Sapphires indicate His heavenly nature (so Joh 3:13, "is in heaven"), even in His humiliation, overlaying or cast "over" His ivory human body (Exo 24:10). Sky-blue in color, the height and depth of the love of Jesus Christ (Eph 3:18).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
His hands ... - Are golden rings or cylinders. The fingers of the bent or closed hand are compared to a massive ring or set of rings; or, if outstretched or straightened, to a row of golden rods or cylinders. The beryl - The "tarshish" (compare Exo 28:20), probably the chrysolite of the ancients (so called from its gold color), the modern topaz. His belly ... - His body (the Hebrew term applies to the whole body, from the shoulders to the thighs) is a piece of ivory workmanship overlaid with sapphires. The sapphire of the ancients seems to have been the lapis lazuli.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
14a His hands golden cylinders, Filled in with stones of Tarshish. The figure, according to Gesen., Heb. Wrterbuch, and literally also Heilgst., is derived from the closed hand, and the stained nails are compared to precious stones. both statements are incorrect; for (1) although it is true that then Israelitish women, as at the present day Egyptian and Arabian women, stained their eyes with stibium (vid., under Isa 54:11), yet it is nowhere shown that they, and particularly men, stained the nails of their feet and their toes with the orange-yellow of the Alhenna (Lane's Egypt, I 33-35); and (2) the word used is not כּפּיו, but ידיו; it is thus the outstretched hands that are meant; and only these, not the closed fist, could be compared to "lilies," for גּליל signifies not a ring (Cocc., Dpke, Bttch., etc.), but that which is rolled up, a roller, cylinder (Est 1:6), from גּלל, which properly means not κυκλοῦν (Venet., after Gebhardt: κεκυκλωμέναι), but κυλίνδειν. The hands thus are meant in respect of the fingers, which on account of their noble and fine form, their full, round, fleshy mould, are compared to bars of gold formed like rollers, garnished (ממלּאים, like מלּא, Exo 28:17) with stones of Tarshish, to which the nails are likened. The transparent horn-plates of the nails, with the lunula, the white segment of a circle at their roots, are certainly, when they are beautiful, an ornament to the hand, and, without our needing to think of their being stained, are worthily compared to the gold-yellow topaz. Tarshish is not the onyx, which derives its Heb. name שׁהם from its likeness to the finger-nail, but the χρυσόλιθος, by which the word in this passage before us is translated by the Quinta and the Sexta, and elsewhere also by the lxx and Aquila. But the chrysolite is the precious stone which is now called the topaz. It receives the name Tarshish from Spain, the place where it was found. Pliny, xxxviii. 42, describes it as aureo fulgore tralucens. Bredow erroneously interprets Tarshish of amber. There is a kind of chrysolite, indeed, which is called chryselectron, because in colorem electri declinans. The comparison of the nails to such a precious stone (Luther, influenced by the consonance, and apparently warranted by the plena hyacinthis of the Vulg., has substituted golden rings, vol Trkissen, whose blue-green colour is not suitable here), in spite of Hengst., who finds it insipid, is as true to nature as it is tender and pleasing. The description now proceeds from the uncovered to the covered parts of his body, the whiteness of which is compared to ivory and marble. 14b His body an ivory work of art, Covered with sapphires. The plur. מעים or מעים, from מעה or מעי (vid., under Psa 40:9), signifies properly the tender parts, and that the inward parts of the body, but is here, like the Chald. מעין, Dan 2:32, and the בּטן, Sol 7:3, which also properly signifies the inner part of the body, κοιλία, transferred to the body in its outward appearance. To the question how Shulamith should in such a manner praise that which is for the most part covered with clothing, it is not only to be answered that it is the poet who speaks by her mouth, but also that it is not the bride or the beloved, but the wife, whom he represents as thus speaking. עשׁת (from the peculiar Hebraeo-Chald. and Targ. עשׁת, which, after Jer 5:28, like ḳhalak, creare, appears to proceed from the fundamental idea of smoothing) designates an artistic figure. Such a figure was Solomon's throne, made of שׁן, the teeth of elephants, ivory, (Note: Ivory is fully designated by the name שׁנהבּים, Lat. ebur, from the Aegypt. ebu, the Aegypto-Indian ibha, elephant.) Kg1 10:18. Here Solomon's own person, without reference to a definite admired work of art, is praised as being like an artistic figure made of ivory, - like it in regard to its glancing smoothness and its fine symmetrical form. When, now, this word of art is described as covered with sapphires (מעלּפת, referred to עשׁת, as apparently gramm., or as ideal, fem.), a sapphire-coloured robe is not meant (Hitzig, Ginsburg); for עלף, which only means to disguise, would not at all be used of such a robe (Gen 38:14; cf. Gen 24:65), nor would the one uniform colour of the robe be designated by sapphires in the plur. The choice of the verb עלף (elsewhere used of veiling) indicates a covering shading the pure white, and in connection with ספּירים, thought of as accus., a moderating of the bright glance by a soft blue. For ספיר (a genuine Semit. word, like the Chald. שׁפּיר; cf. regarding ספר = שׁפר, under Psa 16:6) is the sky-blue sapphire (Exo 24:10), including the Lasurstein (lapis lazuli), sprinkled with golden, or rather with gold-like glistening points of pyrites, from which, with the l omitted, sky-blue is called azur (azure) (vid., under Job 28:6). The word of art formed of ivory is quite covered over with sapphires fixed in it. That which is here compared is nothing else than the branching blue veins under the white skin.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Beryl - Beautiful, and precious, and richly adorned, as it were with gold rings set with precious stones. Belly - Which seems to be here used, for the whole body, reaching from the neck to the bottom of the belly. Saphires - Of a pure and bright white colour, intermixt with blue veins; for some saphires are of a bright blue colour.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
His hands - gold rings set with the beryl - This really seems to refer to gold rings set with precious stones on the fingers, and perhaps to circlets or bracelets about the wrists. Some suppose it to refer to the roundness and exquisite symmetry of the hand and fingers. תרשיש tarshish, which we translate beryl, a gem of a sea-green tint, had better be translated chrysolite, which is of a gold color. His belly - bright ivory overlaid with sapphires - This must refer to some garment set with precious stones which went round his waist, and was peculiarly remarkable. If we take it literally, the sense is plain enough. His belly was beautifully white, and the blue veins appearing under the skin resembled the sapphire stone. But one can hardly think that this was intended.

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¹⁸ May be able [1840] to comprehend [2638] with [4862] all [3956] saints [40] what [5101] is the breadth [4114], and [2532] length [3372], and [2532] depth [899], and [2532] height [5311];

¹⁰ And they saw [07200] the God [0430] of Israel [03478]: and there was under his feet [07272] as it were a paved [03840] work [04639] of a sapphire stone [05601], and as it were the body [06106] of heaven [08064] in his clearness [02892].

¹³ And [2532] no man [3762] hath ascended up [305] to [1519] heaven [3772], but [1508] he that came down [2597] from [1537] heaven [3772], even the Son [5207] of man [444] which [3588] is [5607] in [1722] heaven [3772].

⁵ And righteousness [06664] shall be the girdle [0232] of his loins [04975], and faithfulness [0530] the girdle [0232] of his reins [02504].

⁵ Then I lifted up [05375] mine eyes [05869], and looked [07200], and behold a certain [0259] man [0376] clothed [03847] in linen [0906], whose loins [04975] were girded [02296] with fine gold [03800] of Uphaz [0210]:

⁴ Thy neck [06677] is as a tower [04026] of ivory [08127]; thine eyes [05869] like the fishpools [01295] in Heshbon [02809], by the gate [08179] of Bathrabbim [01337]: thy nose [0639] is as the tower [04026] of Lebanon [03844] which looketh [06822] toward [06440] Damascus [01834].

⁸ All thy garments [0899] smell of myrrh [04753], and aloes [0174], and cassia [07102], out of the ivory [08127] palaces [01964], whereby [04482] they have made thee glad [08055].

⁵ Wherefore [1352] when he cometh [1525] into [1519] the world [2889], he saith [3004], Sacrifice [2378] and [2532] offering [4376] thou wouldest [2309] not [3756], but [1161] a body [4983] hast thou prepared [2675] me [3427]:

⁸ How shall I give thee up [05414], Ephraim [0669]? how shall I deliver [04042] thee, Israel [03478]? how shall I make [05414] thee as Admah [0126]? how shall I set [07760] thee as Zeboim [06636]? mine heart [03820] is turned [02015] within me, my repentings [05150] are kindled [03648] together [03162].

²⁰ Is Ephraim [0669] my dear [03357] son [01121]? is he a pleasant [08191] child [03206]? for since [01767] I spake [01696] against him, I do earnestly [02142] remember [02142] him still: therefore my bowels [04578] are troubled [01993] for him; I will surely [07355] have mercy [07355] upon him, saith [05002] the LORD [03068].

¹⁵ Look down [05027] from heaven [08064], and behold [07200] from the habitation [02073] of thy holiness [06944] and of thy glory [08597]: where is thy zeal [07068] and thy strength [01369], the sounding [01995] of thy bowels [04578] and of thy mercies [07356] toward me? are they restrained [0662]?

¹⁴ I am poured out [08210] like water [04325], and all my bones [06106] are out of joint [06504]: my heart [03820] is like wax [01749]; it is melted [04549] in the midst [08432] of my bowels [04578].

²⁴ As I live [02416], saith [05002] the LORD [03068], though Coniah [03659] the son [01121] of Jehoiakim [03079] king [04428] of Judah [03063] were the signet [02368] upon my right [03225] hand [03027], yet would I pluck [05423] thee thence;

²³ In that day [03117], saith [05002] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], will I take [03947] thee, O Zerubbabel [02216], my servant [05650], the son [01121] of Shealtiel [07597], saith [05002] the LORD [03068], and will make [07760] thee as a signet [02368]: for I have chosen [0977] thee, saith [05002] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635].

¹⁶ Behold, I have graven [02710] thee upon the palms of my hands [03709]; thy walls [02346] are continually [08548] before me.

⁶ Set [07760] me as a seal [02368] upon thine heart [03820], as a seal [02368] upon thine arm [02220]: for love [0160] is strong [05794] as death [04194]; jealousy [07068] is cruel [07186] as the grave [07585]: the coals [07565] thereof are coals [07565] of fire [0784], which hath a most vehement flame [07957].

² And [2532] I saw [1492] another [243] angel [32] ascending [305] [305] from [575] the east [395] [2246], having [2192] the seal [4973] of the living [2198] God [2316]: and [2532] he cried [2896] with a loud [3173] voice [5456] to the four [5064] angels [32], to whom [3739] it [846] was given [1325] to hurt [91] the earth [1093] and [2532] the sea [2281],
³ Saying [3004], Hurt [91] not [3361] the earth [1093], neither [3383] the sea [2281], nor [3383] the trees [1186], till [891] [3739] we have sealed [4972] [4972] the servants [1401] of our [2257] God [2316] in [1909] their [846] foreheads [3359].
⁴ And [2532] I heard [191] the number [706] of them which were sealed [4972]: and there were sealed [4972] an hundred [1540] and forty [5062] and four [5064] thousand [5505] of [1537] all [3956] the tribes [5443] of the children [5207] of Israel [2474].

²⁷ Labour [2038] not [3361] for the meat [1035] which [3588] perisheth [622], but [235] for that meat [1035] which [3588] endureth [3306] unto [1519] everlasting [166] life [2222], which [3739] the Son [5207] of man [444] shall give [1325] unto you [5213]: for [1063] him [5126] hath [4972] God [2316] the Father [3962] sealed [4972].

⁴² And Pharaoh [06547] took off [05493] his ring [02885] from his hand [03027], and put [05414] it upon Joseph's [03130] hand [03027], and arrayed [03847] him in vestures [0899] of fine linen [08336], and put [07760] a gold [02091] chain [07242] about his neck [06677];

⁷ Wherefore [5620] thou art [1488] no more [3765] a servant [1401], but [235] a son [5207]; and [1161] if [1487] a son [5207], then [2532] an heir [2818] of God [2316] through [1223] Christ [5547].

²² But [1161] the father [3962] said [2036] to [4314] his [846] servants [1401], Bring forth [1627] the best [4413] robe [4749], and [2532] put it on [1746] him [846]; and [2532] put [1325] a ring [1146] on [1519] his [846] hand [5495], and [2532] shoes [5266] on [1519] his feet [4228]:

¹³ His cheeks [03895] are as a bed [06170] of spices [01314], as sweet [04840] flowers [04026]: his lips [08193] like lilies [07799], dropping [05197] sweet smelling [05674] myrrh [04753].

⁶ His body [01472] also was like the beryl [08658], and his face [06440] as the appearance [04758] of lightning [01300], and his eyes [05869] as lamps [03940] of fire [0784], and his arms [02220] and his feet [04772] like in colour [05869] to polished [07044] brass [05178], and the voice [06963] of his words [01697] like the voice [06963] of a multitude [01995].

¹⁹ And [2532] the foundations [2310] of the wall [5038] of the city [4172] were garnished with [2885] all manner of [3956] precious [5093] stones [3037]. The first [4413] foundation [2310] was jasper [2393]; the second [1208], sapphire [4552]; the third [5154], a chalcedony [5472]; the fourth [5067], an emerald [4665];
²⁰ The fifth [3991], sardonyx [4557]; the sixth [1623], sardius [4556]; the seventh [1442], chrysolite [5555]; the eighth [3590], beryl [969]; the ninth [1766], a topaz [5116]; the tenth [1182], a chrysoprasus [5556]; the eleventh [1734], a jacinth [5192]; the twelfth [1428], an amethyst [271].

²⁰ And the fourth [07243] row [02905] a beryl [08658], and an onyx [07718], and a jasper [03471]: they shall be set [07660] in gold [02091] in their inclosings [04396].

⁶ The stones [068] of it are the place [04725] of sapphires [05601]: and it hath dust [06083] of gold [02091].

⁶ The lines [02256] are fallen [05307] unto me in pleasant [05273] places; yea, I have a goodly [08231] heritage [05159].

⁶⁵ For she had said [0559] unto the servant [05650], What [04310] man [0376] is this [01976] that walketh [01980] in the field [07704] to meet us [07125]? And the servant [05650] had said [0559], It is my master [0113]: therefore she took [03947] a vail [06809], and covered herself [03680].

¹⁴ And she put [05493] her widow's [0491] garments [0899] off [05493] from her, and covered her [03680] with a vail [06809], and wrapped herself [05968], and sat in [03427] an open [05869] place [06607], which is by the way [01870] to Timnath [08553]; for she saw [07200] that Shelah [07956] was grown [01431], and she was not given [05414] unto him to wife [0802].

¹⁸ Moreover the king [04428] made [06213] a great [01419] throne [03678] of ivory [08127], and overlaid [06823] it with the best [06338] gold [02091].

²⁸ They are waxen fat [08080], they shine [06245]: yea, they overpass [05674] the deeds [01697] of the wicked [07451]: they judge [01777] not the cause [01779], the cause of the fatherless [03490], yet they prosper [06743]; and the right [04941] of the needy [034] do they not judge [08199].

³ Thy two [08147] breasts [07699] are like two [08147] young [06082] roes [06646] that are twins [08380].

³² This image's [06755] head [07217] was of fine [02869] gold [01722], his breast [02306] and his arms [01872] of silver [03702], his belly [04577] and his thighs [03410] of brass [05174],

⁹ I have preached [01319] righteousness [06664] in the great [07227] congregation [06951]: lo, I have not refrained [03607] my lips [08193], O LORD [03068], thou knowest [03045].

¹⁷ And thou shalt set [04390] in it settings [04396] of stones [068], even four [0702] rows [02905] of stones [068]: the first row [02905] shall be a sardius [0124], a topaz [06357], and a carbuncle [01304]: this shall be the first [0259] row [02905].

⁶ Where were white [02353], green [03768], and blue [08504], hangings, fastened [0270] with cords [02256] of fine linen [0948] and purple [0713] to silver [03701] rings [01550] and pillars [05982] of marble [08336]: the beds [04296] were of gold [02091] and silver [03701], upon a pavement [07531] of red [0923], and blue [08504], and white [01858], and black [05508], marble [08336].

¹¹ O thou afflicted [06041], tossed with tempest [05590], and not comforted [05162], behold, I will lay [07257] thy stones [068] with fair colours [06320], and lay thy foundations [03245] with sapphires [05601].