Song of Songs 3:1–5

Every witness, in order

1. Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)

   The poem as first composed

   – No copy survives

   No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).

2. late 1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)

   4Q106 (4QCant-a), Qumran Cave 4

   ⓘ Reports what manuscripts containedDescends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed

   How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

   Reported to preserve parts of chapters 3–4 and 6–7 and to pass from 4:7 to 6:11 without 4:8–6:10 (Tov 1995). Exact text: C check against DJD XVI / DJD III (S-C04).

3. Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592

   Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

   ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

   How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

   In lectulo meo, per noctes, quæsivi quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni. Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quæram quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni. Invenerunt me vigiles qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea vidistis? Paululum cum pertransissem eos, inveni quem diligit anima mea: tenui eum, nec dimittam, donec introducam illum in domum matris meæ, et in cubiculum genetricis meæ. Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, per capreas cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.

   Latin numbering: Song 3:1–5. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.

4. AD 1008

   Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

   ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed

   How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

   עַל־מִשְׁכָּבִי֙ בַּלֵּיל֔וֹת בִּקַּ֕שְׁתִּי אֵ֥ת שֶׁאָהֲבָ֖ה נַפְשִׁ֑י בִּקַּשְׁתִּ֖יו וְלֹ֥א מְצָאתִֽיו׃ אָק֨וּמָה נָּ֜א וַאֲסוֹבְבָ֣ה בָעִ֗יר בַּשְּׁוָקִים֙ וּבָ֣רְחֹב֔וֹת אֲבַקְשָׁ֕ה אֵ֥ת שֶׁאָהֲבָ֖ה נַפְשִׁ֑י בִּקַּשְׁתִּ֖יו וְלֹ֥א מְצָאתִֽיו׃ מְצָא֙וּנִי֙ הַשֹּׁ֣מְרִ֔ים הַסֹּבְבִ֖ים בָּעִ֑יר אֵ֛ת שֶׁאָהֲבָ֥ה נַפְשִׁ֖י רְאִיתֶֽם׃ כִּמְעַט֙ שֶׁעָבַ֣רְתִּי מֵהֶ֔ם עַ֣ד שֶֽׁמָּצָ֔אתִי אֵ֥ת שֶׁאָהֲבָ֖ה נַפְשִׁ֑י אֲחַזְתִּיו֙ וְלֹ֣א אַרְפֶּ֔נּוּ עַד־שֶׁ֤הֲבֵיאתִיו֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית אִמִּ֔י וְאֶל־חֶ֖דֶר הוֹרָתִֽי׃ הִשְׁבַּ֨עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֜ם בְּנ֤וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ בִּצְבָא֔וֹת א֖וֹ בְּאַיְל֣וֹת הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה אִם־תָּעִ֧ירוּ ׀ וְֽאִם־תְּעֽוֹרְר֛וּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָ֖ה עַ֥ד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּֽץ׃

   On my bed, in the nights, I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him and did not find him

   Hebrew numbering: Song 3:1–5.

5. 1611

   King James Bible

   ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

   How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

   By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I 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. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It 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. I 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.

6. Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872

   Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)

   ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Song (Asma)

   How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

   Sur ma couche, la nuit, j’ai désiré celui qu’aime mon âme; je l’ai cherché, et ne l’ai point trouvé; je l’ai appelé, et il ne m’a pas écouté. Je me lèverai donc; j’irai par la ville, les marchés, les places, et je chercherai celui qu’aime mon âme. Je l’ai cherché, et ne l’ai point trouvé. Les gardiens m’ont rencontrée, en faisant la ronde dans la ville N’avez-vous pas vu celui qu’aime mon âme? A peine éloignée d’eux, j’ai trouvé celui qu’aime mon âme; je l’ai pris par la main, et ne l’ai point quitté que je ne l’eusse introduit dans la maison de ma mère, dans la chambre de celle qui m’a conçue. Filles de Jérusalem, je vous adjure par les puissances et les vertus des campagnes, n’éveillez pas, ne réveillez pas ma bien-aimée, qu’elle ne le désire.

   Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 3:1–5. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition. The file's 3:1 adds "I called him, and he did not answer me" (compare 5:6), a Greek plus to check.