Old Testament
Song of Solomon 3
Overview
The chapter opens with the bride's restless night: on her bed she sought the one her soul loves but did not find him, so she rose and roamed the city until she found him and would not let him go until she brought him to her mother's house. The third refrain charges the daughters of Jerusalem again not to awaken love before its time. Then the scene shifts dramatically to a royal wedding procession: "Who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke?" Solomon's splendid litter approaches, escorted by sixty mighty men, fashioned of cedar, silver, gold, and purple, and the daughters of Zion are summoned to behold King Solomon crowned on his wedding day, "the day of the gladness of his heart."
1By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
2I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
3The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.
5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.
6Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
7Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.
8They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.
9King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.
10He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.