ESTUDIO DEL VERSÍCULO
Song of Solomon 6:3 — Mutual Belonging Among the Lilies
The Shulammite declares reciprocal belonging to her beloved, set against the pastoral image of him feeding among the lilies.
Escritura
- 3.Yo soy de mi amado, y mi amado es mío; El apacienta entre los lirios.I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; He feedeth his flock among the lilies,
Qué significa este pasaje
The verse opens with a reciprocal confession: 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.' The chiasm (beloved's / mine / beloved's / mine) places each claim inside the other, so that possession and belonging are stated as a single, mutual bond rather than one-sided claim. The double assertion responds to the separation just described in 6:1–2, where the daughters of Jerusalem ask where the beloved has gone and she reports he has 'gone down to his garden' to feed and gather lilies.
The second colon — 'He feedeth his flock among the lilies' — pictures the beloved as a shepherd at pasture in a flowering field. Feeding among lilies ties his pastoral care to the same garden setting of 6:2, where the garden contains beds of spices and lilies. The image presents his activity as unhurried and tender: the one who tends the flock does so in a place of beauty, not toil.
Read together, the two halves hold covenant language and pastoral imagery side by side. The declaration of belonging does not float free of his daily work; it is grounded in the scene of him feeding among the lilies. The verse therefore joins identity (whose she is and whose he is) with vocation (what he is doing), so that mutual possession is described in concrete, pastoral terms.
Contexto
Chapter 6 opens with a brief separation: the daughters of Jerusalem ask where the beloved has gone (6:1), and the woman answers that he has descended to his garden to feed and gather lilies (6:2). Verse 3 sits at the hinge of this exchange, where the question of absence is answered not by location but by belonging.
After 6:3, the focus shifts to a sustained description of the woman's beauty, using royal and martial comparisons — Tirzah, Jerusalem, banners (6:4) — together with body imagery of hair, teeth, and temples (6:5–7). The reciprocal claim of 6:3 thus stands as the theological and relational center that the surrounding descriptions of beauty circle back to.
Preguntas frecuentes
Why does the verse state belonging twice — once each way?
The doubled statement 'I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine' uses a chiastic structure so that each clause encloses the other, expressing the bond as fully mutual rather than one-sided.
What does 'feeding his flock among the lilies' add to the declaration of belonging?
It grounds the relational claim in a concrete pastoral scene. The same garden of lilies mentioned in 6:2 becomes the place where his shepherding work is carried out, so mutual belonging is described in the setting of his daily care.
Where does this verse sit in the flow of chapter 6?
It stands immediately after the brief separation scene of 6:1–2 and immediately before the long description of the woman's beauty in 6:4–7, functioning as the hinge that answers absence with belonging.