Song of Solomon 5

General context

A masculine voice says he has come into his garden, my sister, my spouse, gathered his myrrh with his spice, eaten his honeycomb with his honey and drunk his wine with his milk, and a call follows: eat, O friends; drink abundantly, O beloved. She says she sleeps but her heart wakes, and hears her beloved knocking: open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for his head is filled with dew and his locks with drops of the night. She answers that she has put off her coat and washed her feet, and asks how she should put it on or defile them. Her beloved puts his hand in by the hole of the door and her bowels are moved for him. She rises to open, her hands dropping myrrh on the lock, but her beloved has withdrawn and gone; her soul failed when he spoke; she seeks him and cannot find him, calls and gets no answer. The watchmen who go about the city find her, smite her and wound her, and the keepers of the walls take away her veil. She charges the daughters of Jerusalem, if they find her beloved, to tell him she is sick of love. They ask what her beloved is more than another beloved, that she charges them so. She describes him: white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand; head fine gold, locks bushy and black as a raven, eyes as doves by rivers of waters, cheeks a bed of spices, lips lilies dropping myrrh, hands gold rings set with beryl, belly bright ivory overlaid with sapphires, legs pillars of marble on sockets of gold, countenance as Lebanon, mouth most sweet. He is altogether lovely: this is my beloved and my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 5:2, Song of Solomon 5:3, Song of Solomon 5:4, Song of Solomon 5:5, Song of Solomon 5:6, Song of Solomon 5:7, Song of Solomon 5:8, Song of Solomon 5:9, Song of Solomon 5:10, Song of Solomon 5:11, Song of Solomon 5:12, Song of Solomon 5:13, Song of Solomon 5:14, Song of Solomon 5:15, Song of Solomon 5:16

Song of Solomon 5 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The first verse answers the invitation that closed chapter 4 and is in the man's voice, with my sister, my spouse; its last clause, eat, O friends, drink abundantly, O beloved, addresses a plural company and is not marked as belonging to either voice. From verse 2 the woman speaks, and the words I sleep, but my heart waketh open the scene; the text does not say whether what follows is a dream, and the guide does not decide it. The watchmen are the same office as in chapter 3, where they only found her; here the text states plainly that they smote and wounded her and that the keepers of the walls took her veil, and it gives no reason for the blows and no consequence. The daughters of Jerusalem are the ones she charges, and the question in verse 9 is theirs, since it ends that thou dost so charge us. Her description of the man names his head, locks, eyes, cheeks, lips, hands, belly, legs, countenance and mouth, with comparisons of gold, raven, doves, spices, lilies, beryl, ivory, sapphires, marble, Lebanon and cedars; the text gives no name for him and no setting for the description. Ten thousand and Lebanon are measures of comparison only.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 4:16, Song of Solomon 5:2, Song of Solomon 3:3, Song of Solomon 5:7, Song of Solomon 5:9, Song of Solomon 5:10, Song of Solomon 5:15

Literary context

The chapter opens by completing an exchange, the garden offered at the end of chapter 4 now entered, with three I have clauses that gather, eat and drink. The night scene that follows reverses the one in chapter 3. There she sought and found and held him; here he comes to her, she delays with two questions about her coat and her feet, he is gone when she opens, and her seeking and calling meet silence, I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen who found her before now strike her. The daughters' question repeats itself inside one verse, what is thy beloved more than another beloved, and that repetition draws out the longest description of the man in the book, a catalogue moving from head to mouth in the same part-and-comparison form the man used for her in chapter 4, with hard materials, gold, beryl, ivory, sapphires, marble, standing in for his body. The phrase sick of love repeats chapter 2, and the chapter ends by handing the description back to the daughters, this is my beloved, and this is my friend, so that their next question opens chapter 6.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 3:4, Song of Solomon 5:3, Song of Solomon 5:6, Song of Solomon 5:7, Song of Solomon 5:9, Song of Solomon 5:11, Song of Solomon 5:14, Song of Solomon 4:1, Song of Solomon 5:8, Song of Solomon 2:5, Song of Solomon 5:16, Song of Solomon 6:1

Key moments

1. Come into my garden (Song of Solomon 5:1). The man says he has entered his garden and gathered, eaten and drunk.
2. The voice that knocks (Song of Solomon 5:2). She hears her beloved knocking and asking her to open, his locks wet with night dew.
3. I have put off my coat (Song of Solomon 5:3). She answers his knock with two questions about dressing and dirtying her feet.
4. He had withdrawn (Song of Solomon 5:6). When she opens, her beloved is gone, and her seeking and calling get no answer.
5. The watchmen smite her (Song of Solomon 5:7). The watchmen wound her and the keepers of the walls take her veil.
6. What is thy beloved more? (Song of Solomon 5:9). The daughters ask what makes her beloved more than another.
7. Altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:16). Her description ends by calling him her beloved and her friend.

For reflection

She says her soul failed when he spoke, yet her first reply to his knock was two questions about her coat and her feet. What does the chapter leave unexplained in the space between his call and her rising?