beautiful (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
love
רַעְיָתִ֔יra'.ya.Ti
H7474
a female associate · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fair
יָפָ֖הya.Fah
H3303
beautiful (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
doves’
יוֹנִֽיםyo.Nim
H3123
a dove (apparently from the warmth of their mating) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
eyes
עֵינַ֥יִךְ'ei.Na.yikh
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
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…
Song of Solomon 5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
2 Corinthians 11:2-3 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Ephesians 1:17-18 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Song of Solomon 1:8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
Song of Solomon 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Song of Solomon 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Song of Solomon 1:15
Behold, thou art fair, my love,.... These are the words of Christ, commending the beauty and comeliness of the church, expressing his great affection for her, and his high esteem of her; of her fairness and beauty; see Gill on Sol 1:5; see Gill on Sol 1:8; of the title of Christ's love, as given her by him; see Gill on Sol 1:9; a "behold" is prefixed to this account her, as a note of attention, to consider her complete comeliness in Christ, and not pore on her own blackness; and as a note of admiration, that she who was so black and uncomely in herself should be so fair and beautiful in his eyes, through his blood, righteousness, and grace; and as a note of asseveration, assuring her of the…
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 1:15–end
The couple exchange adoring descriptions of each other that honor her incomparable beauty and praise his stalwart protection and provision for her.
1:15 The comparison of the woman’s eyes with doves (see also 4:1; 5:12) is not clear. The metaphor may be commenting on their color or on a softness of expression.
Rashi on Song of Solomon 1:15
Behold, you are comely, my beloved. I53I.e., Yisroel. was ashamed of my going astray, but He encouraged me with appeasing words, saying, “I have forgiven because of your words.”54Bamidbar 14:20. And you are most fair, for your eyes are like doves; i.e., a bride whose eyes are ugly, her entire body requires examination, but she whose eyes are beautiful, her body requires no examination.55See Maseches Ta’anis 24a. The allegorical meaning is: I forgave you for your iniquity, and behold you are fair with “Let us do,”56Shemos 24:7. and you are fair with “Let us hear;”57Ibid. fair with the deeds of your forefathers and fair with your own deeds, because —
Your eyes are like doves. There are righte…
So that it may be that which is said in the Song of Songs: "You are wholly beautiful, my love, and there is no spot in you." And again: "Behold, you are fair, my near one, behold, you are fair, your eyes are doves." You who are fair and strong, when you have become like him of whom it is sung, "In your beauty and your comeliness," you will hear from the Bridegroom: "Forget your people and your father's house, and the King will desire your beauty."
Our eyes [are not] such as the eyes of Christ's beautiful bride must be, of which eyes the bridegroom says, "Your eyes are doves." He is hinting, perhaps, at the perceptive power of spiritual people, because the Holy Spirit came upon the Lord as a dove, and the Lord is in each one. Nevertheless, even in our condition, we will not hesitate to examine the words of life that have been spoken, and to attempt to grasp their power which streams forth into him who has apprehended them with faith.
When her own beauty is manifest, the loveliness of her eyes is extolled. The bridegroom says that her eyes are those of a dove that seem to convey this meaning: when the pupils of the eye are clear, the faces of those gazing at them are clearly reflected. Persons skilled in studying natural phenomena say that the eye sees by receiving the impression of images emanating from visible objects. For this reason the beauty of the bride's eyes is praised since the image of a dove appears in her pupils. Whenever a person gazes upon an object he receives in himself the image of that object. He who no longer attends to flesh and blood looks toward the life of the Spirit. As the apostle says, such a person lives in the Spirit, conforms to the Spirit, and by the Spirit puts to death the deeds of the body. This person has become wholly spiritual, neither natural nor carnal.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dove — In their wild state doves generally build their nests in the clefts of rocks, but when domesticated “dove-cots” are prepared for them (Cant. 2:14; Jer. 48:28; Isa. 60:8). The dove was placed on the…
Dove, The · Characterised by: Softness of eyes — Characterised by: Softness of eyes
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
