Song-of-solomon 5:14
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
American King James Version (AKJV)
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
American Standard Version (ASV)
His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl: His body is as ivory work overlaid with'sapphires.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
His hands are as rings of gold ornamented with beryl-stones; his body is as a smooth plate of ivory covered with sapphires.
Webster's Revision
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
World English Bible
His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
English Revised Version (ERV)
His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl: his body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
Definitions for Song-of-solomon 5:14
Clarke's Song-of-solomon 5:14 Bible Commentary
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.
Barnes's Song-of-solomon 5:14 Bible Commentary
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 Exodus 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.
Wesley's Song-of-solomon 5:14 Bible Commentary
5:14 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.
