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Christianity

Song of Solomon 3Seeking the One My Soul Loves

Summary

Song of Solomon 3 opens at night, as the woman searches her bed for the one her soul loves and does not find him. She rises and goes through the city streets and squares, asks the watchmen, and soon finds him, holding him and bringing him to her mother's house. The refrain about not stirring up love repeats. The scene then changes to a royal procession: Solomon's litter comes from the wilderness, guarded by sixty warriors, and he wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day.

Key verse

“By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.”

Song of Solomon 3:1

Themes

  • Searching
  • Finding
  • Royal Wedding
  • Devotion

Text

1

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

2

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

3

The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

4

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

5

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

6

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

7

Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

8

They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9

King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

10

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

11

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

  • Christianity

    John 20: Mary Magdalene in the Garden

    John 20:11 to 18 describes Mary Magdalene searching for Jesus near the tomb and finding him. The Roman Catholic lectionary offers Song of Solomon 3:1 to 4 as a reading for her feast day, pairing the two searches.

  • Christianity

    Psalm 45: A Royal Wedding Song

    Psalm 45 celebrates a king's wedding, praising the groom and the bride clothed in gold, much like the wedding procession of Song of Solomon 3:6 to 11.

  • Hinduism

    Bhagavad Gita 12: Cling Thou to Me

    In Arnold's translation Krishna tells the seeker, Cling thou to Me! Clasp Me with heart and mind! The image of holding fast echoes Song of Solomon 3:4, I held him, and would not let him go, though the Gita speaks of devotion to God rather than human love.

Questions about Song of Solomon 3

What does him whom my soul loveth mean?

The phrase, repeated four times in Song of Solomon 3:1 to 4, expresses the woman's whole-hearted love. Allegorical readers have taken it as the soul's longing for God.

Why does the Song mention Solomon's wedding?

Song of Solomon 3:6 to 11 describes Solomon's procession and the crown his mother placed on him on the day of his espousals. Some scholars see wedding songs behind the book, while others read the royal imagery as poetic.