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Song of Songs 5

KJV · Chapter 5/8

1I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

2I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

3I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

4My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.

5I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

7The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

9What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

10My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

11His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

12His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

13His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

14His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

15His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The lover arrives at the beloved's door, but she is slow to open it, and by the time she does, he is gone. She goes out searching for him through the city and is mistreated by the watchmen. She then describes his physical beauty in detail to the daughters of Jerusalem.

Explanation

This passage portrays a moment of temporary loss and searching, an emotional pattern common in relationships: misunderstanding, hesitation, and the fear that love has slipped away. The hostile response of the watchmen shows the real dangers a woman faced going out alone at night in ancient society. Notably, here it is the woman who praises the man's body, something rare in ancient literature, showing that the Song treats female desire with the same dignity as male desire. Application for today: honest communication about feelings keeps small misunderstandings from growing into great distances in a relationship.

Fun facts

  • The description of the lover as having a "head of finest gold" and "legs like pillars of marble" follows the same poetic pattern used to describe idols and royal statues in ancient Near Eastern literature, signaling magnificence.
  • This is one of the few biblical texts in which a woman openly praises a man's physical beauty, a point noted by commentators as a sign of the mutuality of love in the book.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Song of Songs 5:1The closing invitation to “eat, and drink abundantly” seems to include the couple’s friends celebrating along with them, as if this scene of intimacy ended up turning into a shared celebration, not just a private moment.
  2. Song of Songs 5:2The scene where the beloved knocks at the door at night, she hesitates to open it, and by the time she finally does he is already gone, repeats the theme of searching and missed connection already seen earlier in the book, showing love’s more painful side.
  3. Song of Songs 5:3Her excuses for not getting up right away, already undressed and with her feet washed, sound like lazy hesitation that she herself will bitterly regret as soon as he is gone.
  4. Song of Songs 5:4The door with a hole or gap for a hand to reach through was a common architectural detail in ancient houses — his gesture of trying to open it that way is a quiet, intimate request for entry.
  5. Song of Songs 5:5The myrrh dripping from her hands onto the door handles suggests she had perfumed herself while waiting for him, a sensory detail that turns even the act of opening the door into something charged with desire.
  6. Song of Songs 5:6Her delay in opening the door has a real consequence: by the time she finally does, he is already gone, turning the scene of anticipation into one of regret and desperate searching right afterward.
  7. Song of Songs 5:7Unlike the gentle encounter with the watchmen in chapter 3, here they mistreat her and take her veil — an escalation of violence that may reflect either a real danger or the emotional intensity of her own despair.
  8. Song of Songs 5:8Asking the other young women to pass along a message, in case they find the beloved before she does, shows how lost her search already feels — she turns to intermediaries because she can no longer find him on her own.
  9. Song of Songs 5:9The other women’s curious question, what makes this love so special, works as a narrative hook that introduces the long physical description of him in the following verses.
  10. Song of Songs 5:10After he described her body in earlier chapters, here it is her turn to describe his, with equally elaborate images like a head of fine gold and legs like marble columns, showing that the physical admiration was mutual between the two.
  11. Song of Songs 5:11Comparing the head to pure gold and the hair to a black raven brings together two very different images of value and beauty, material luxury and nature’s intense color, in a single description.
  12. Song of Songs 5:12The same dove-eyes image used to describe the beloved in chapter 1 appears here reversed, applied to him — the poem reuses compliments between the two characters in both directions.
  13. Song of Songs 5:13Describing the lips as lilies dripping myrrh combines a delicate visual image with an almost tangible sense of perfume coming from his speech or his kiss.
  14. Song of Songs 5:14Comparing parts of the body to metals and precious stones, gold, ivory, sapphires, builds an almost sculptural portrait of him, both a work of art and a real person.
  15. Song of Songs 5:15Ending the description by comparing him to marble columns and the cedars of Lebanon reinforces an image of stability and grandeur, worthy of a temple or palace, applied to the body of a loved one.
  16. Song of Songs 5:16Calling him both “beloved” and “friend” in the same verse shows that the poem does not separate romantic passion from companionship — the two terms appear together as part of the same relationship.

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