Song of Songs 5:2–8
"I sleep, but my heart waketh": the knock and the watchmen
She sleeps, her heart awake; her beloved knocks, wet with dew; she hesitates; she opens, her hands dripping myrrh on the lock; he has gone. She searches; the watchmen strike her, wound her and take her cloak (v. 7). The witnesses agree on the violence; none softens it.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
The poem as first composed
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).
Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat. Vox dilecti mei pulsantis: Aperi mihi, soror mea, amica mea, columba mea, immaculata mea, quia caput meum plenum est rore, et cincinni mei guttis noctium. Expoliavi me tunica mea: quomodo induar illa? lavi pedes meos: quomodo inquinabo illos? Dilectus meus misit manum suam per foramen, et venter meus intremuit ad tactum ejus. Surrexi ut aperirem dilecto meo; manus meæ stillaverunt myrrham, et digiti mei pleni myrrha probatissima. Pessulum ostii mei aperui dilecto meo, at ille declinaverat, atque transierat. Anima mea liquefacta est, ut locutus est; quæsivi, et non inveni illum; vocavi, et non respondit mihi. Invenerunt me custodes qui circumeunt civitatem; percusserunt me, et vulneraverunt me. Tulerunt pallium meum mihi custodes murorum. Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, si inveneritis dilectum meum, ut nuntietis ei quia amore langueo.
Latin numbering: Song 5:2–8. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
אֲנִ֥י יְשֵׁנָ֖ה וְלִבִּ֣י עֵ֑ר ק֣וֹל ׀ דּוֹדִ֣י דוֹפֵ֗ק פִּתְחִי־לִ֞י אֲחֹתִ֤י רַעְיָתִי֙ יוֹנָתִ֣י תַמָּתִ֔י שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי֙ נִמְלָא־טָ֔ל קְוֻּצּוֹתַ֖י רְסִ֥יסֵי לָֽיְלָה׃ פָּשַׁ֙טְתִּי֙ אֶת־כֻּתָּנְתִּ֔י אֵיכָ֖כָה אֶלְבָּשֶׁ֑נָּה רָחַ֥צְתִּי אֶת־רַגְלַ֖י אֵיכָ֥כָה אֲטַנְּפֵֽם׃ דּוֹדִ֗י שָׁלַ֤ח יָדוֹ֙ מִן־הַחֹ֔ר וּמֵעַ֖י הָמ֥וּ עָלָֽיו׃ קַ֥מְתִּֽי אֲנִ֖י לִפְתֹּ֣חַ לְדוֹדִ֑י וְיָדַ֣י נָֽטְפוּ־מ֗וֹר וְאֶצְבְּעֹתַי֙ מ֣וֹר עֹבֵ֔ר עַ֖ל כַּפּ֥וֹת הַמַּנְעֽוּל׃ פָּתַ֤חְתִּֽי אֲנִי֙ לְדוֹדִ֔י וְדוֹדִ֖י חָמַ֣ק עָבָ֑ר נַפְשִׁי֙ יָֽצְאָ֣ה בְדַבְּר֔וֹ בִּקַּשְׁתִּ֙יהוּ֙ וְלֹ֣א מְצָאתִ֔יהוּ קְרָאתִ֖יו וְלֹ֥א עָנָֽנִי׃ מְצָאֻ֧נִי הַשֹּׁמְרִ֛ים הַסֹּבְבִ֥ים בָּעִ֖יר הִכּ֣וּנִי פְצָע֑וּנִי נָשְׂא֤וּ אֶת־רְדִידִי֙ מֵֽעָלַ֔י שֹׁמְרֵ֖י הַחֹמֽוֹת׃ הִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֖ם בְּנ֣וֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם אִֽם־תִּמְצְאוּ֙ אֶת־דּוֹדִ֔י מַה־תַּגִּ֣ידוּ ל֔וֹ שֶׁחוֹלַ֥ת אַהֲבָ֖ה אָֽנִי׃
I was asleep but my heart was awake: the sound of my beloved knocking! Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one
Hebrew numbering: Song 5:2–8.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
I 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. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I 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. I 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. The 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. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872
Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
Pour moi, je dors, et mon cœur veille. C’est la voix de mon frère bien-aimé; il heurte à la porte: Ouvre-moi, dit-il, ma bien-aimée, ma sœur, ma colombe, ma parfaite; ma tête est pleine de rosée, et mes cheveux humides des gouttes de la nuit. J’ai ôté ma tunique; comment la revêtirai-je? Je me suis lavé les pieds; comment puis-je maintenant les salir? Mon frère bien-aimé a passé la main dans l’ouverture de la porte, et si près de mon bien-aimé mes entrailles ont tressailli, Je me suis levée pour ouvrir à mon frère bienaimé; mes mains ont distillé la myrrhe; mes doigts ont rempli de myrrhe la poignée du verrou. Et j’ai ouvert à mon frère bien-aimé, et mon frère bien-aimé n’était plus là; et mon âme était défaillante pendant qu’il parlait. Je l’ai cherché, et ne l’ai point trouvé; je l’ai appelé, et il ne m’a point entendue. Les gardes m’ont rencontrée, en faisant la ronde dans la ville; ils m’ont battue et meurtrie; les sentinelles des remparts m’ont dépouillée de mon manteau. Filles de Jérusalem, je vous adjure par les puissances et les vertus des campagnes, si vous avez trouvé mon frère bien-aimé, que lui direz-vous? Dites-lui que je suis blessée d’amour.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 5:2–8. 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.
What changed, and why
"Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled (tammati)": four endearments. Her excuses (v. 3) may be teasing; the delay costs her.
Vv. 4–5 are sensual and suggestive (hand, opening, myrrh on the lock); the literal door scene and the erotic overtone coexist.
V. 7: "the keepers of the walls took away my veil (redid)" — a light outer wrap. The Song records an assault by public guards. Readings that make it a dream or a symbol do not erase what it says.
What the evidence shows
- The witnesses agree that the watchmen strike and wound her.
- The Song presents the watchmen's violence as deserved.
Sources
Related lessons
- Song of Songs 5: I Sleep, but My Heart Waketh →The man answers her invitation: "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse"; someone says, "eat, O friends; drink" (5:1). Then a night scene: "I sleep, but my heart waketh"; her beloved knocks, wet with dew; she hesitates; when she opens, myrrh dripping from her hands on the lock, he is gone (vv. 2–6). The watchmen find her, strike her, wound her and take her cloak (v. 7). She charges the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him she is lovesick (v. 8). They ask what makes her beloved better than others (v. 9). She answers with a head-to-foot praise of him (vv. 10–16): "This is my beloved, and this is my friend."
- Investigation: The Daughters of Jerusalem and the Watchmen →The woman speaks to a group of women, "the daughters of Jerusalem," throughout the Song, and twice goes into the city at night to search for her beloved. The first time the watchmen pass her by; the second time they beat her and take her cloak. This investigation looks at public and private space for women, the watchmen, and how to read the violent scene honestly.