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.
The Song of Solomon — also called Song of Songs — is a book of love poetry in the Old Testament, openly romantic and sensory in ways that can surprise first-time readers of the Bible. It has been treasured both as a celebration of human love and marriage, and as a metaphor for God's passionate love for his people, or Christ's love for the church. In this verse, the lover is painting a picture of spring arriving in full: fig trees budding with their first early fruit, vineyards breaking into blossom and releasing their fragrance. Against this backdrop of beauty and new life, he calls urgently to his beloved: arise, come away with me. The words "my darling" and "my beautiful one" are terms of deep, tender affection used throughout the book. The invitation is full of longing — this is someone who cannot wait to be with the person they love.
God, it's hard to believe you call me beautiful. Teach me to receive your love without flinching or explaining it away. When I'm hiding or stalled or just going through the motions, call me by name and pull me out into the open. Amen.
There are very few places in Scripture where the voice we associate with God sounds like someone in love. Not giving instructions, not issuing corrections, not evaluating performance. Just longing. The fig tree is just waking up. The vines are releasing their first fragrance of spring. And into all that new, soft, opening life, a voice calls: come with me. Not when you're ready. Not when everything is sorted. Not when you've finally become the person you think you should be. Now. Maybe the most quietly radical thing this verse does is describe divine love as something that pursues and delights rather than simply demands. You are called "darling." You are called "beautiful one." Not candidate. Not project. Not problem to be solved. Whatever your spiritual life has felt like lately — dry, obligatory, distant, just going through the motions — this voice hasn't stopped. The question it asks isn't "have you done enough?" It's simpler and stranger than that: will you come? Spring is here. The vines are blooming. What are you still waiting for?
What does it mean that openly romantic love poetry is included in Scripture — what does its presence suggest about how God views human desire, beauty, and intimacy?
When have you experienced an invitation — from God or from someone you love — that felt genuinely tender and urgent rather than obligatory? What did you do with it?
Many people find it difficult to believe that God actually delights in them specifically — where do you think that struggle comes from, and what would it take for you to believe it more fully?
If you imagined your relationship with God as one of desire and delight rather than evaluation and obligation, how might that shift the way you show up in your closest human relationships?
The verse is an invitation to arise and come — to move toward something rather than stay put. What's one specific place in your life right now where you need to get up and go?
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Song of Solomon 2:15
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
2 Corinthians 6:2
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Isaiah 61:11
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Song of Solomon 2:10
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
Psalms 45:10
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
Isaiah 55:10
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 40:2
'The fig tree has budded and ripens her figs, And the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, And come away [to climb the rocky steps of the hillside].'"
AMP
The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
ESV
'The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth [their] fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!''
NASB
The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”
NIV
The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!
NKJV
The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!”
NLT
Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed, and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms. Oh, get up, dear friend, my fair and beautiful lover—come to me!
MSG