Song of Solomon 5
The Garden Entered
1I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved
The Bride's Second Night Search
2I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?
4My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.
5I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left, and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer.
7The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
8I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love. Friends
The Bride's Description of Her Beloved
9How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? Beloved
10My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.
11His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
Song of Solomon 5 presents a dramatic shift from marital consummation to temporary separation and longing. The chapter opens with the beloved celebrating their union, but quickly moves to the bride's anguished search for her absent lover through the city streets, where she encounters hostility from the watchmen. When questioned by the daughters of Jerusalem, she responds with an elaborate and passionate description of her beloved's physical beauty, demonstrating the depth of her devotion despite their separation.
Context
This chapter follows the wedding celebration of chapter 4 but introduces conflict and separation that will continue into chapter 6.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1The Garden EnteredThe beloved celebrates the consummation of their love with rich imagery of gathering and feasting.
- 2-6The Bride's Second Night Search BeginsThe bride hesitates when her beloved knocks, and upon opening finds he has departed, prompting her desperate search.
- 7-8Encounter with the WatchmenThe city watchmen beat and bruise the searching bride, stripping away her cloak as she seeks her beloved.
- 9The Daughters' QuestionThe daughters of Jerusalem challenge the bride to explain what makes her beloved superior to others.
- 10-16The Bride's Description of Her BelovedThe bride responds with an elaborate portrait of her beloved's physical beauty from head to toe.
The Garden Entered
5:1–5:1A brief celebration of consummated love, where the groom declares he has entered the garden and enjoyed its fruits. Friends join in celebrating the union with encouragement to feast and drink.
structural
Song of Solomon 5:1 uniquely features the only direct speech from the "friends" in the entire book, breaking the intimate dialogue between lovers to celebrate their consummated union.
The Bride's Second Night Search
5:2–5:8The bride's distressing dream of missing her beloved's visit due to hesitation, followed by a fruitless and painful search through the city. The passage explores themes of missed opportunity and the pain of separation in love.
structural
Song of Solomon's structural center places the bride's dream of missed intimacy at the book's literal heart, making separation—not union—the gravitational core around which all other encounters revolve.
The Bride's Description of Her Beloved
5:9–5:16The bride responds to the daughters of Jerusalem by giving an elaborate description of her beloved's physical beauty, comparing him to precious metals, gems, and natural elements.
structural
The bride's ten-part anatomical description mirrors ancient Near Eastern wasf poetry while positioning this praise poem at Song of Solomon's structural center, creating a literary climax that balances the book's erotic symmetry.
Song of Solomon 5:1
Song of Solomon 4:10lexicalHow beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes…
Song of Solomon 4:11lexicalYour lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like t…
Song of Solomon 4:12lexicalMy sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
Genesis 9:21lexicalHe drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
Jeremiah 51:7lexicalBabylon has been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; ther…
Song of Solomon 5:2
Song of Solomon 1:15lexicalBehold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves. Beloved
Song of Solomon 4:1lexicalBehold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is a…
Song of Solomon 5:3
Leviticus 16:4lexicalHe shall put on the holy linen tunic. He shall have the linen trousers on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and…
Song of Solomon 5:8
1 Samuel 10:16lexicalSaul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of w…
Song of Solomon 5:11
Isaiah 13:12lexicalI will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
Song of Solomon 5:13
Song of Solomon 6:2lexicalMy beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies…
Song of Solomon 4:14lexicalspikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
Exodus 30:23lexical“Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred a…
Esther 2:12lexicalEach young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days o…
Song of Solomon 5:14
Ezekiel 28:13lexicalYou were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, s…
Ezekiel 7:19lexicalThey will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’…
Interlinear
Word-by-word original language
Historical Context
Places and events in this chapter