Song of Solomon 7:5
New International Version
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry; the king is held captive by its tresses.

New Living Translation
Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel, and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty. The king is held captive by its tresses.

English Standard Version
Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

Berean Standard Bible
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.

King James Bible
Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

New King James Version
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, And the hair of your head is like purple; A king is held captive by your tresses.

New American Standard Bible
“Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing hair of your head is like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses.

NASB 1995
“Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses.

NASB 1977
“Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your head crowns you like Carmel, And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads; The king is captivated by your tresses.

Amplified Bible
“Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, And the flowing hair of your head like purple threads; I, the king, am held captive by your tresses.

Christian Standard Bible
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple cloth — a king could be held captive in your tresses.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple cloth— a king could be held captive in your tresses.

American Standard Version
Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, And the hair of thy head like purple; The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Your head upon you is like Karmela and the tresses of your head like the purple garment of the King that is tied in rows

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thy head upon thee is as Carmel, and the curls of thy hair like scarlet; the king is bound in the galleries.

Contemporary English Version
Your head is held high like Mount Carmel; your hair is so lovely it holds a king prisoner.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the channels.

English Revised Version
Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You hold your head as high as Mount Carmel. Your dangling curls are royal beauty. Your flowing locks could hold a king captive.

Good News Translation
Your head is held high like Mount Carmel. Your braided hair shines like the finest satin; its beauty could hold a king captive.

International Standard Version
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. Your flowing locks are like purple, and a king could be captured in the dangling tresses.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, And the hair of thy head like purple; The king is held captive in the tresses thereof.

Literal Standard Version
Your head on you as Carmel, | And the locks of your head as purple, | The king is bound with the flowings!

Majority Standard Bible
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses.

New American Bible
Your head rises upon you like Carmel; your hair is like purple; a king is caught in its locks.

NET Bible
Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries--the king is held captive in its tresses!

New Revised Standard Version
Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses.

New Heart English Bible
Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

World English Bible
Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses.

Young's Literal Translation
Thy head upon thee as Carmel, And the locks of thy head as purple, The king is bound with the flowings!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Admiration by the Bridegroom
4Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, facing toward Damascus. 5Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple threads; the king is captured in your tresses. 6How fair and pleasant you are, O love, with your delights!…

Cross References
Proverbs 5:19
A loving doe, a graceful fawn--may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.

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.


Treasury of Scripture

Your head on you is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

head

Isaiah 35:2
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

Ephesians 1:22
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Ephesians 4:15,16
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: …

the hair

Song of Solomon 4:1
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

Song of Solomon 5:11
His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

Revelation 1:14
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

the king

Song of Solomon 1:17
The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

Genesis 32:26
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Psalm 68:24
They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.

held or bound

Jump to Previous
Bound Captivated Captive Carmel Crowns Fettered Flowing Flowings Galleries Hair Head Held Locks Mount Net Prisoner Purple Royal Tapestry Thereof Threads
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Bound Captivated Captive Carmel Crowns Fettered Flowing Flowings Galleries Hair Head Held Locks Mount Net Prisoner Purple Royal Tapestry Thereof Threads
Song of Solomon 7
1. a further description of the church's graces.
10. The church professes her faith and desire














(5) Carmel.--Marg., crimson, from reading charmil, which preserves the parallelism with the next clause better. But the whole passage deals in the author's favourite figures from localities; and certainly the comparison of a finely-set head to a mountain is at least as apt as that in the preceding verse, of the nose to a "tower in Lebanon." Besides, there may be a play on words, which in turn may have suggested the allusion to purple in the next clause, or possibly the vicinity of Carmel to Tyre may have led to the thought of its famous dyes.

Hair.--Heb. dallath, most probably = flowing tresses. For comparison--

"Carmine purpurea est Nisi coma."

"Et pro purpureo dat p?nas Scylla capillo.

(Comp. ????????? ???????? in Lucian., and ???????? ?????? in Anacreon.) So Collins:--

"The youths whose locks divinely spreading,

Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue."

Ode to Liberty.

The king is held (Marg., bound) in the galleries.--For galleries, see Note on Song of Solomon 1:17. Translate "A king caught and bound by thy tresses," i.e., they are so beautiful that a monarch would be caught by them.

(Comp.-- . . .

Verse 5. - Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held captive in the tresses thereof. Carmel is called the "Nose of the mountain range" (Arf-ef-jebel). It is a promontory. The meaning, no doubt, is the exquisite fitness of the head upon the neck, which is one of the most lovely traits of personal beauty. Some, however, think that the reference is to colour - Carmel being derived from the Persian, and meaning "crimson." This is rejected by Delitzsch, as the Persian would be carmile, not carmel. The transition is natural from the position and shape of the head and neck to the hair. The purple shellfish is found near Carmel (cf. Lucian's πορφύρεος πλόκαμος and Anacreon's πορφυραῖ χαῖται, and similar expressions in Virgil's 'Georgics,' 1:405, and Tibullus, 1:4, 63). The locks of hair are a glistening purple colour, i.e. their black is purple as they catch the lights. Hengstenberg, however, thinks that the reference is to the temples, and not to the hair itself; but the use of the term in classical poets is decisive. The lovely head shaking the locks as the body moves gracefully in the dance fills the king with delight and admiration. He is quite captivated, and the ladies, having finished their description of the bride, look at the bridegroom, and behold him quite lost in the fascination - "held captive in the tresses." Delitzsch quotes a similar expression from Goethe, in the 'West Ostliche Divan,' "There are more than fifty hooks in each lock of thy hair." The idea of taking captive is frequent in Hebrew poetry (cf. Proverbs 6:25; Sirach 9:3, 4). Thus ends the song of the ladies in praise of the bride. We must suppose that the king, who is probably present, then takes up the word, and pours out his heart.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Your head
רֹאשֵׁ֤ךְ (rō·šêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 7218: The head

crowns you
עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ (‘ā·la·yiḵ)
Preposition | second person feminine singular
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

like Mount Carmel,
כַּכַּרְמֶ֔ל (kak·kar·mel)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3760: Carmel -- a mountain promontory on the Mediterranean, also a city near Hebron

the hair
וְדַלַּ֥ת (wə·ḏal·laṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 1803: Something dangling, a loose thread, hair, indigent

of your head
רֹאשֵׁ֖ךְ (rō·šêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 7218: The head

like purple [threads];
כָּאַרְגָּמָ֑ן (kā·’ar·gā·mān)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 713: Purple, red-purple

the king
מֶ֖לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

is captured
אָס֥וּר (’ā·sūr)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 631: To yoke, hitch, to fasten, to join battle

in your tresses.
בָּרְהָטִֽים׃ (bā·rə·hā·ṭîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 7298: A channel, watering-box, ringlet of hair


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OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 7:5 Your head on you is like Carmel (Song Songs SS So Can)
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