Song 3 | EE | STEP | All night I lay in bed. I looked for the man that I love. I looked for him but he did not appear.

Song of Solomon 3

Woman

1 All night I lay in bed.

I looked for the man that I love.
I looked for him but he did not appear.

2 I thought, ‘I will get up now and I will go into the city.

I will look everywhere for the man that I really love.
I will go through all the streets.
I will look in all the market places.’

So I looked for him.

But I did not find him.

3 The security guards were working.

They walked through the streets of the city.
They found me.
I said, ‘Have you seen the man that I love very much?’

4 I passed them.

Just then, I found the man that I love!

I hugged him. I would not let him go.
I held him until I had brought him to my mother’s house.

I brought him to my mother’s room.

(There my life started, in my mother’s body.)

5 Daughters of Jerusalem,

please do not cause someone to feel love for another person;
not until he or she wants to.

I am saying this because I really mean it.

I beg you on behalf of the gazelles and the young female deer in the field.

The Writer

6 Who is this who is appearing from the empty land?

What is this smoke that is rising?
There is a lovely smell of myrrh and incense.

The smell of the trader‘s spices fills the air.

7 Look! It is King Solomon’s sedan chair and 60 soldiers are travelling with it.

The soldiers are very brave. They are the best in Israel.

8 All of them wear a sword. Each man is ready to use it.

They have all fought in many wars.
They are ready for the dangers of the night.

9 King Solomon made the sedan chair for himself.

He made it out of wood from Lebanon.

10 He made the posts out of silver.

He used gold for the part where the passenger’s feet rest.

The Daughters of Jerusalem put a comfortable purple cloth over the seat to cover it.

They were careful to make it beautiful inside.

11 Daughters of Zion, come out.

Look at King Solomon who is wearing his crown.

His mother put the crown on him.
She put it on him on his marriage day.
It was the day that he was very happy. ^{▼▼3:11 The ‘smoke’ that is rising may be sand or dirt from the ground. It blows about because many people are moving. But there is a lovely smell of spice. So the writer is thinking about lovely smells from the smoke of plants that are burning.} ^{▼▼3:11 Lebanon is a country in the Middle East where there are mountains and many trees. It is next to the country where Solomon was king.} ^{▼▼3:11 In this book, the writer uses the word purple to mean something valuable. It is a colour that kings and queens would use.} ^{▼▼3:11 Verses 7 and 9 may mean that King Solomon is the man in the story. But, if not, maybe the man and woman are singing a song at their marriage. The song that they sing is about Solomon’s marriage.} ^{▼▼3:11 ‘Daughters of Zion’ seems to be another name for the friends. Zion is the name of a hill in Jerusalem. People often use the word Zion to mean all Jerusalem.}