BELOVED — and in the plural, LOVEMAKING. The singular dod is what the woman calls the man all through the Song, twenty-six times in eight chapters; the plural dodim is not affection in the abstract but caresses, the acts of love (1:2, 4; 4:10; 7:13). ⚠ The same three consonants also mean UNCLE in ordinary Hebrew law and genealogy (Leviticus 25:49), and the name DAVID is built on the root. Ezekiel 16:8 and 23:17 use dodim of sexual love in a deliberately shocking prophetic image, which is a good measure of how strong the word is. → first discussed at Song of Solomon 1:2