Song of Solomon 5:12

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
eyes	עֵינָ֕יו 'ei.Nav	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
doves	כְּיוֹנִ֖ים ke.yo.Nim	H3123	a dove (apparently from the warmth of their mating) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
rivers	אֲפִ֣יקֵי 'a.Fi.kei	H650	properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
waters	מָ֑יִם Ma.yim	H4325	water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
washed	רֹֽחֲצוֹת֙ ro.cha.tzOt	H7364	to lave (the whole or a part of a thing) · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
milk	בֶּֽחָלָ֔ב be.cha.Lav	H2461	milk (as the richness of kine) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
set	יֹשְׁב֖וֹת yo.she.Vot	H3427	properly · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute

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 1:15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.
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…
Hebrews 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have…

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 5:12

His eyes are as the eyes of doves,.... the church's eyes are said to be, Sol 1:15; which are her ministers, endowed with dove like gifts in measure, as Christ is without measure, in fulness; but these are Christ's eyes, which may signify his omniscience, who has seven eyes, Zechariah 3:9; especially as that has respect unto and is concerned with his people in a way of grace and mercy, and so must look very beautiful in their view: his eyes are like "doves' eyes"; not fierce and furious, but loving and lovely; looking upon his people, under all their trials and afflictions, with sympathy and concern, to deliver them out of them: and like the eyes of doves by rivers of waters: Sanctius thinks…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 5:11-15

The woman describes the man as a statue made of gold, ivory, lapis lazuli, and marble pillars, suggesting that he is god-like in appearance, since statues of deities were composed of such precious metals in antiquity (Exod 32:1-4; 1 Kgs 12:28; Dan 2:32-33; 3:1).

Rashi on Song of Solomon 5:12

His eyes are like doves upon brooks of water. His eyes by brooks of water are as beautiful as doves’ eyes. Brooks of water are pleasant to behold, and the young men go there to swim. And so the poet praises the eyes of “my beloved,” when he gazes upon the brooks of water, they resemble the beauty of the eyes of doves. Bathed. [I.e.,] the eyes of my beloved in milk. Well set in their fullness. All this is an expression of beauty. They neither protrude excessively nor are they sunken, but they are well set מִלֵּאת in their socket. (Other editions: the eye according to the socket.) The literal meaning parallels the allegorical meaning. It מִלֵּאת is a term used for anything made to fill a soc…

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Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

Perhaps, as some say, it was to reveal an image that he came down in the likeness of a pure, innocent, simple dove, working with prayers for the sons he begot and for the forgiveness of sins; just as in a veiled manner it was foretold that the beauty of Christ's eyes would be manifested in this way.
— Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 17:9

[A dove] is inclined to sit above water so that it may avoid being seized by a hawk coming, since it has seen its shadow beforehand in the water. Let us also be clean, and take care to sit attentively at the cleansing streams of the Scriptures, and, thoroughly instructed by [their] mirrors, may we be capable of distinguishing and guarding ourselves against the snares of the ancient enemy.
— Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1:12

"His eyes like doves on pools of water," once again here by mention of the "eyes" admiring his keen sight. Hence her saying they are like doves "on pools of water" reminds us of the dove coming down on him in the Jordan. … Hence the bride says, "His eyes like doves on pools of water": his eyes are constantly upon the source of baptism, awaiting those being saved and longing for the salvation of everyone.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 5

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, The · Frequents streams and rivers — Frequents streams and rivers
Love To Christ · His personal excellence is deserving of — His personal excellence is deserving of
Precious Stones · Used for: Setting in seals and rings — Used for: Setting in seals and rings
Preciousness Of Christ · Illustrated — Illustrated
Rivers · Banks of: Frequented by doves — Banks of: Frequented by doves

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).