Song of Songs 3:1-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 3
Loss and Discovery
1 W(A) On my bed at night I sought him[a]
whom my soul loves—
I sought him but I did not find him.
2 “Let me rise then and go about the city,[b]
through the streets and squares;
Let me seek him whom my soul loves.”
I sought him but I did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me,
as they made their rounds in the city:
“Him whom my soul loves—have you seen him?”
4 (B)Hardly had I left them
when I found him whom my soul loves.[c]
I held him and would not let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 (C)I adjure you, Daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and the does of the field,
Do not awaken or stir up love
until it is ready.
Footnotes
- 3:1–5 See the parallel in 5:2–8.
- 3:2 The motif of seeking/finding here and elsewhere is used by later Christian and Jewish mystics to speak of the soul’s search for the divine.
- 3:4 Whom my soul loves: the fourfold repetition of this phrase in vv. 1–4 highlights the depth of the woman’s emotion and desire. Mother’s house: cf. 8:2; a place of safety and intimacy, one which implicitly signifies approval of the lovers’ relationship.
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