Old Testament · Poetry

Song of Solomon 3

Searching at Night

By night on my bed I sought the one my soul loves. She searches the city streets, frantic, until she finds him. Love can't rest.

King James Version BSB KJV

1By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

2I 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.

3The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

4It 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.

5I 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.

6Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

7Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

8They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

10He 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.

11Go 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.

Understand This

Song of Solomon 3, explained

What Song of Solomon 3 is saying

The beloved searches desperately for her lover through the city streets at night, finally finding him and refusing to let go. The scene shifts to Solomon's royal wedding procession—sixty warriors, a palanquin of Lebanese cedar, with silver, gold, and purple—approaching in clouds of incense.

The background behind it

The nocturnal search may reflect actual betrothal customs or dream sequences. The wedding procession description parallels ancient Near Eastern royal wedding poetry. The sixty mighty men recall David's elite guard, lending military grandeur to the nuptial celebration.

Themes running underneath

Love involves both desperate vulnerability (the nighttime search) and public celebration (the royal procession). The beloved's determination to find and hold her lover models active, persistent pursuit. The royal wedding imagery elevates marriage to a matter of communal celebration and covenant significance.

Why it still matters

The tension between private longing and public celebration captures something essential about committed love: it is both deeply intimate and necessarily communal.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.