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Song of Solomon 3 KJV

The Bride's Dream

Wisdom Literature 2 min 11 verses 287 words Solomon whom ร—5 soul ร—4 loveth ร—4 sought ร—3 daughters ร—3

Song of Solomon Chapter 3: The Bride's Dream

The nocturnal search through city streets guarded by watchmen parallels prophetic motifs in Isaiah but repurposes them for erotic longing, where the bride's initiative inverts typical gender roles in ancient Near Eastern love poetry.

B1๐Ÿ”—y night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

2๐Ÿ”— 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.

3๐Ÿ”— The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

4๐Ÿ”— 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 motherโ€™s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

5๐Ÿ”— 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.

6๐Ÿ”— Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

7๐Ÿ”— Behold his bed, which is Solomonโ€™s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

8๐Ÿ”— They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

9๐Ÿ”— King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

10๐Ÿ”— 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.

11๐Ÿ”— 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.

Continue Reading Song of Solomon 4 The Bridegroom Praises the Bride

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Chapter Context

Reading Plans Bible in a Year

Did You Know?

1

The nocturnal search through city streets guarded by watchmen parallels prophetic motifs in Isaiah but repurposes them for erotic longing, where the bride's initiative inverts typical gender roles in ancient Near Eastern love poetry.

2

The palanquin's materials. Cedar pillars, silver, gold, and purple. Directly echo the Solomonic Temple's construction in 1 Kings 6-7, portraying the beloved's conveyance as a mobile sanctuary that merges royal and sacred space.

3

Verse 11's unique mention of the mother crowning Solomon on his wedding day subtly invokes Bathsheba from the Davidic narrative, linking the Song's idealized love to the historical monarchy's covenantal lineage.

4

The sixty warriors escorting the litter evoke David's mighty men in 2 Samuel 23, transforming a romantic procession into an image of kingdom security where love is shielded by martial valor rather than hidden.

5

The adjuration not to awaken love until it pleases, repeated after the dream, frames the chapter within wisdom literature's emphasis on divine timing, suggesting love's sovereignty akin to Qoheleth's seasons.