Song of Songs 3

Song of Songs 3
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Four thousand years of Jewish history come to life in Arthur Szyk's Visual History of Israel, completed in 1948, depicting, among others, King Solomon (top right), shown holding a copy of 'Song of Songs'.
Book	Song of Songs
Category	Ketuvim
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	22

Song of Songs 3 (abbreviated as Song 3) is the third chapter of the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book is one of the Five Megillot, a collection of short books, together with Book of Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, within the Ketuvim, the third and the last part of the Hebrew Bible.^[3] Jewish tradition views Solomon as the author of this book, and this attribution influences the acceptance of this book as a canonical text, although this is at present largely disputed.^[3] This chapter contains a female song about her search for her lover at night and the poem describing King Solomon's procession.^[4]

Text[]

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual witnesses[]

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century),^[a] and Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[6] Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: 4Q106 (4QCant^a); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 3–5, 7–11), 4Q107 (4QCant^b); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 1–2, 5, 9–11), and 4Q108 (4QCant^c); 30 BCE-30 CE; extant verses 7–8).^[7][8][9]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).^[10]

Structure[]

New King James Version (NKJV) groups this chapter into:

• Song 3:1-5 = A Troubled Night
• Song 3:6-11 = The Coming of Solomon

Female: Search and seizure (3:1-5)[]

The first part of this chapter is a tightly constructed song by the female protagonist describing how she looks for her lover at night (or in a dream) in the city streets, until she finds him and brings him into her mother's house.^[11] The setting of this poem progresses from the woman's bed (verse 1) to the public areas of the city (verses 2-4b) and finally to the privacy of her mother's bedroom (verses 4c-5).^[12] It closes with the second appeal to the 'daughters of Jerusalem'.^[11]

Verse 1[]

On my bed by night I sought him

whom my soul loves;

I sought him, but found him not.^[13]

• "By night" (Hebrew: בלילות, ba-lê-lō-wṯ^[14]): that is, "nightly" or "night after night".^[15]

Verse 5[]

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the does of the field,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.^[16]

• Cross references: Song of Songs 2:7; 8:4^[15]
• "Charge" or "adjure"^[17]

The names of God are apparently substituted with similar sounding phrases depicting 'female gazelles' (צְבָא֔וֹת, tseḇā’ōṯ) for [God of] hosts (צבאות tseḇā’ōṯ), and 'does of the field'/'wild does/female deer' (אילות השדה, ’ay-lōṯ ha-śā-ḏeh) for God Almighty (אל שדי, ’êl shaddai).^[18]

Male: Marriage scene (3:6-11)[]

This section starts a poetic exposition of love and marriage which form the core of the book (Song 3:6-5:1).^[19] Hess applies these six verses to the man,^[20] whereas Fox prefers the daughter of Jerusalem as the speakers,^[21] and the New King James Version assigns them to "the Shulamite" (= the woman).^[22]

Solomon is the focus of this section, as his name is mentioned three times (verses 7, 9 and 11), and the suffix 'his' (-o) refers to him once in verse 7, another in verse 9 and four times in the second part of verse 11.^[20] The last word of this part is 'his heart' (libbo), referring directly to the essential aspect of King Solomon and the most relevant to the whole love poem.^[20] The mention of Solomon's mother in verse 11 is in line with the focus on mothers in the book, both the woman's (1:6; 3:4; 6:9; 8:1, 2) and the man's (8:5).^[23]

See also[]

• Jerusalem
• Zion

• Related Bible parts: Song of Songs 2

Notes[]

References[]

Sources[]

• Bergant, Dianne (2001). Cotter, David W.; Walsh, Jerome T.; Franke, Chris (eds.). The Songs of Songs. Berit Olam (The Everlasting Covenant): Studies In Hebrew Narrative And Poetry. Liturgical Press. ISBN 9780814650691.
• Brenner, Athalya (2007). "21. The Song of Solomon". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 429–433. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
• Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195288810.
• Exum, J. Cheryl (2005). Songs of Songs: A Commentary. Old Testament library (reprint ed.). Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664221904.
• Halley, Henry H. (1965). Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary (24th (revised) ed.). Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-25720-4.
• Hess, Richard S. (2005). Songs of Songs. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Series. Baker Academic. ISBN 9780801027123.
• Longman, Tremper (2001). Songs of Songs. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. Volume 26. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802825438. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.

External links[]

• Jewish translations:
  • Shir Hashirim - Song of Songs - Chapter 3 (Judaica Press) translation [with Rashi's commentary] at Chabad.org
• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Song of Solomon Chapter 3 King James Version
• Song of Solomon public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions