Song of Songs 3
New Catholic Bible
Third Poem
Chapter 3
I Found the One My Heart Loves[a]
Bride:
1 Night[b] after night upon my bed
I sought the one my heart loves.
I sought him, but I could not find him.
2 I said, “I will rise and go through the city,
along the streets and in the squares.
I will seek the one my heart loves.”
I sought him, but I could not find him.
3 The watchmen[c] came upon me
as they made their rounds of the city,
and I asked them,
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
4 I had hardly gone past them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
until I had brought him to my mother’s house,[d]
to the very room where she had conceived me.
Bridegroom:
5 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and the wild does:
Do not stir up or awaken love
before its time has come.[e]
Solomon on the Day of His Wedding[f]
Companions:
6 What is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense
and with all the fragrant spices of the merchant?
7 Look, it is Solomon being carried in his litter,
and escorted by sixty valiant guards,
the bravest of the mighty warriors of Israel,
8 all of them expert swordsmen
and experienced in warfare,
each with his sword ready at his side
to guard against the terrors by night.[g]
9 King Solomon had made himself a carriage
from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
its base of gold,
its seat of purple cloth,
and its framework inlaid with ivory.
11 Daughters of Zion,[h] come forth
and welcome King Solomon
as he wears the crown
that his mother had placed upon his head
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of his heart’s joy.
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 3:1 Night has come, but in vain has the bride awaited the bridegroom. Driven by the ardor of her love, she hastens through the village to find him. Her love guides her to him so that she will take him home and he will embrace her. Already she seems to hear her husband wish that his weary beloved should be left to take her rest.
Human love remains a symbol of divine love. God hides from those who fail to seek him with all their heart. He lets himself be found by those who love him and render glory to him in the temple of Jerusalem where he is, as it were, the spouse of the chosen nation. It is from there that he watches over his people.
Is the life of the Church anything else but the passionate quest for persons who one day heard the Lord’s call? - Song of Songs 3:1 Night: a symbol of anxious waiting (see Ps 130:6; Isa 5:30; 8:22; 9:1; 21:11; 26:9; 59:9). I sought the one my heart loves . . . but I could not find him: this is symptomatic of the people’s search for God. He can be found only by a true conversion (see Hos 3:5; 5:6, 15; Jer 29:13).
- Song of Songs 3:3 Watchmen: they stood on the walls (see 2 Sam 13:34; Ps 127:1; Isa 52:8) or at the gates of the city (see Neh 3:29) and patrolled the streets as well (Song 5:7).
- Song of Songs 3:4 Mother’s house: mothers are referred to frequently in this Book, though fathers are completely ignored.
- Song of Songs 3:5 See note on Song 2:7.
- Song of Songs 3:6 A dream gives various forms to desire. Like a fairy tale, a love song takes delight in images of splendor. The bride sees the bridegroom come to her in the sumptuous garb of the most pompous of kings accompanied by heroes of his guard; he takes possession of his throne on the day of his espousals! For those in love, the betrothal surpasses all the splendors of the world.
Solomon, whose name signifies “peace,” is one of the figures of the Messiah. Thus, this scene may evoke also the triumphal appearance of a savior before the People of God to effect a definitive restoration for them. The Book of Revelation abounds with sumptuous images to announce the meeting of God and those who love him in the heavenly Jerusalem, that is to say, at the supreme fulfillment of all hopes. - Song of Songs 3:8 The terrors by night: see Ps 91:5.
- Song of Songs 3:11 Daughters of Zion: elsewhere “daughters of Jerusalem” (see note on Song 1:5). Crown: a wedding decoration (see Isa 61:10).
