Song of Solomon 3 · ESV Study Bible

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

The Bride’s Dream

SONG OF SOLOMON 3 [†] On my bed r by night

I sought s him whom my soul loves;

t I sought him, but found him not.

2 I will rise now and go about the city,

in u the streets and in the squares;

I will seek s him whom my soul loves.

I sought him, but found him not.

3 v The watchmen found me

as they went about in the city.

“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

4[†] Scarcely had I passed them

when I found s him whom my soul loves.

I w held him, and would not let him go

until I had x brought him into my mother’s house,

and into the chamber of y her who conceived me.

5[†] z I adjure you, a O daughters of Jerusalem,

b by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

6[†] c What is that coming up from the wilderness

like d columns of smoke,

perfumed with e myrrh and frankincense,

with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?

7[†] Behold, it is the litter [1] of Solomon!

Around it are f sixty g mighty men,

some of the mighty men of Israel,

8 all of them wearing swords

and expert in war,

each with his h sword at his thigh,

against i terror by night.

9[†] King Solomon made himself a carriage [2]

from the wood of Lebanon.

10[†] He made its posts of silver,

its back of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior was inlaid with love

by j the daughters of Jerusalem.

11[^][†] Go out, O k daughters of Zion,

and look upon King Solomon,

with the crown with which his mother crowned him

on l the day of his wedding,

on the day of the gladness of his heart.

He

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:5 As in 2:7, the woman adjures the daughters not to force the progress of her love, presumably to avoid these consuming desires.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:1–5 The woman longs for her lover, searches for him persistently, eventually finds him, and takes him to an intimate place. This could simply be poetical imagination (to heighten her sense of longing for her lover), but it is more likely a dream (see note on v. 4).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:7 litter. As the esv footnote indicates, this is “the couch on which servants carry the king”; similar to a portable bed. Sixty mighty men (well-trained soldiers, v. 8) indicates the great wealth and power of the owner of the couch. By contrast, David had only 30 such men (cf. 2 Sam. 23:13).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:11 Since the preceding verse mentions “the daughters of Jerusalem,” and since “Zion” is a synonym for Jerusalem, the daughters of Zion probably refers to the same group (cf. note on 1:5).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:1–6:3 The Shepherdess Dreams. Here the woman reports her dream, which comes from her eagerly anticipating the consummation of their love. That this is a dream is suggested by 3:1 (“On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves”) and 5:2 (“I slept, but my heart was awake”). On this interpretation, the dream includes erotic longings, fears of losing her beloved, nightmarish scenes (5:7), and an imaginative transformation of the beloved into a Solomon-like figure (3:6–11).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:9 Carriage probably refers to the litter in v. 7. Lebanese wood was of the highest quality available, hence its use in the temple (cf. 1 Kings 5:6).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:10 Purple cloth was made using a pigment from the murex shellfish; it was even rarer than silver and gold.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:1 Soul often refers to the whole person, encompassing the woman’s desires, thoughts, feelings, etc.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 3:4 chamber of her who conceived me. Her mother’s bedroom presents a secure and intimate place for the two lovers. The woman has a similar desire to bring her lover to this place in 8:2, where she makes it clear that she will not do so until the right time; hence, it is best to read her search in 3:1–4 as not describing an actual event but rather as part of her dream. There are parallels between this passage and 5:2–8, which also seems to be placed within the context of a dream.