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Song of Songs 5

The poem moves from shared delight through missed encounter and violence to the woman's praise of her absent beloved.

A man speaks of entering his garden and enjoying its riches, addressing his bride; a call to feast follows. The woman then recounts hearing her beloved at the door while she lies in bed. She hesitates, opens, and finds him gone. Her search brings her into the city, where watchmen beat her and take her cloak. Whether this is a dream is uncertain. Questioned by the daughters of Jerusalem, she describes her beloved's beauty and calls him her friend.

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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.
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.
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?
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.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Song of Songs 5:1The garden's rich food and fragrance establish shared delight before the poem turns toward absence and searching.
Song of Songs 5:2Her sleeping body and wakeful heart introduce a night scene poised between desire, hesitation, and possible dreaming.
Song of Songs 5:8Her appeal to the daughters of Jerusalem carries her longing beyond the failed search and prompts their question.
Where this chapter reaches

The search for an absent beloved shares the language of longing and seeking found in Psalm, where speakers seek God's presence. Revelation also uses the image of a voice at the door and a knock, though its speaker and setting differ.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What changes in your reading of her praise when you remember the unanswered search and the watchmen's violence?

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What does her closing description of her beloved as her friend add to the poem's portrait of love?

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Questions people ask about Song of Songs 5

Is Song of Songs 5 a dream?

The woman's account begins with sleep and a wakeful heart, which suggests a dream or a scene between sleep and waking. The sudden movement from bed to a dangerous search supports that possibility. The poem does not mark a clear awakening, so the setting remains uncertain.

Why do the watchmen beat the woman in Song of Songs 5?

The poem reports that the city watchmen beat and bruise her and take her cloak, but it gives no reason for their actions. Their violence makes her search more distressing and exposes her vulnerability. The text gives no basis for treating the assault as deserved punishment for her hesitation.

Is Song of Songs 5 about Jesus?

The poem presents a woman and her beloved through the language of human desire and affection. Christian readers have also read their love as a picture of Christ and his people, a relationship described through marriage in Ephesians. That reading should preserve the poem's human voices and avoid treating every detail as a direct statement about Christ.

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Song of Songs · 8 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).