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Song of Songs · Bible in Basic English

Song of Songs 3 Bible in Basic English

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About BBE
  • Scholarly edition
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew (not verified)
  • NT: Critical text (not verified)
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Simplified language
  • 1965
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

BBE Bible in Basic English
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 By night on my bed I was looking for him who is the love of my soul: I was looking for him, but I did not see him.
1 By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the town, in the streets and in the wide ways I will go after him who is the love of my soul: I went after him, but I did not see him.
2 I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
3 The watchmen who go about the town came by me; to them I said, Have you seen him who is my heart's desire?
3 The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 I was but a little way from them, when I came face to face with him who is the love of my soul. I took him by the hands, and did not let him go, till I had taken him into my mother's house, and into the room of her who gave me birth.
4 I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.
5 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes of the field, let not love be moved till it is ready.
5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.
6 Who is this coming out of the waste places like pillars of smoke, perfumed with sweet spices, with all the spices of the trader?
6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
7 See, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty men of war are about it, of the army of Israel,
7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.
8 All of them armed with swords, trained in war; every man has his sword at his side, because of fear in the night.
8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a bed of the wood of Lebanon.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it of ebony.
10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O daughters of Jerusalem, and see King Solomon, with the crown which his mother put on his head on the day when he was married, and on the day of the joy of his heart.
11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Cross references (11)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 1 Peter 1:8; Song of Songs 5:6; Song of Songs 1:7; Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 55:6
  2. 2 Ephesians 5:14; Romans 13:11; Isaiah 64:7; Proverbs 1:20–21; Psalm 22:1–2
  3. 3 Song of Songs 5:7; John 20:15; Ezekiel 33:2–9; Isaiah 21:11–12; Isaiah 21:6–8
  4. 4 Proverbs 8:17; Matthew 7:7; Song of Songs 6:12; Song of Songs 8:2; Proverbs 4:13
  5. 5 Song of Songs 2:7; Song of Songs 8:4; Micah 4:8
  6. 6 Song of Songs 8:5; Revelation 12:14; Song of Songs 4:6; Song of Songs 1:13; Isaiah 43:19
  7. 7 1 Kings 14:27; Hebrews 1:14; 2 Kings 6:17; 1 Samuel 28:2; Song of Songs 1:16
  8. 8 Psalm 45:3; Ephesians 6:16–18; Psalm 149:5–9; Isaiah 27:3; Nehemiah 4:21–22
  9. 9 Song of Songs 3:7; 2 Samuel 23:5; Revelation 14:6
  10. 10 Romans 5:8; Revelation 3:12; Ephesians 3:18–19; Psalm 87:3; Song of Songs 1:5
  11. 11 Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19–20; Psalm 9:14; Revelation 1:7

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 3:11 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XIII)

    … proclaimed by soldiers; and Jesus also must in a figure be crowned by soldiers; so that for this cause the Scripture says in the Canticles, Go forth, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and look upon King Solomon in the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  2. Quotes verse 3:1 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XIV)

    On my bed I sought Him by night, I sought Him, and I found Him not.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  3. Quotes verse 3:3 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XIV)

    It was but a little that I passed from them (that is, from the two Angels), until I found Him Whom my soul loved. I held Him, and would not let Him go.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)