Song of Solomon 3
What Happens in This Chapter
A woman looks for the man she loves at night, first in her bed and then out in the city streets. She asks the watchmen about him, finds him soon after, and brings him to her mother's house; then she tells the women of Jerusalem not to wake love too soon. The second half of the chapter watches a procession come up from the wilderness: King Solomon's carriage, guarded by sixty soldiers, and a call for the women of Zion to see him wearing his wedding crown.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
1At night I lay in my bed. I looked for the man I love. I looked and looked, but I did not find him.
2I 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.
2So I said, I will get up now. I will go through the city streets and open squares. I will look for the man I love. I looked for him, but I did not find him.
3The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
3The watchmen found me as they walked their rounds. Watchmen are the men who guard a city at night. I asked them, Have you seen the man I love?
4It 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 mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
4I had just walked past them when I found him. I held on to him and would not let him go. I brought him to my mother's house. I brought him into the room of the mother who had me.
5I 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.
5Women of Jerusalem, I ask you to promise me something. I ask it by the deer and the wild does out in the fields. Do not stir up love. Do not wake love up before the right time comes.
6Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
6Who is this coming up from the empty, wild land? It rises like a tall column of smoke. It smells of myrrh and frankincense and every spice a trader sells.
Myrrh and frankincense come from tree sap. People dried them and used them to make sweet smells.
7Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.
7Look, it is King Solomon's carriage. Sixty of Israel's strongest soldiers walk all around it.
The King James Bible calls it a "bed." It means a fancy seat with a cover, carried along by people, not a bed for sleeping.
8They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.
8Every one of them knows how to use a sword. They have all fought in real battles. Each man wears his sword at his side. They are ready for any danger in the night.
9King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
9King Solomon made this carriage for himself. He built it from wood brought from Lebanon.
10He 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.
10He made its posts out of silver and its base out of gold. Its seat was covered with purple cloth. Inside, the women of Jerusalem worked on it with love.
11Go 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.
11Come outside, women of Zion, and look at King Solomon. He is wearing the crown his mother placed on his head. She did it on his wedding day. That was the happiest day of his life.
Zion is another name for the city of Jerusalem.
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