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Song of Solomon 5 Bible study: My beloved and my friend
The WEB's heart comes three times in 5:2-6, and in Hebrew each is a different word; "My heart went out when he spoke" (5:6) has nefesh, the soul of "whom my soul loves" (3:1). And "Eat, friends!" (5:1) and "this is my friend" (5:16) are the Song's only two uses of rea, friend.
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“His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Song of Solomon 5:6-8, the speaker doesn't find the beloved, but the watchmen find the speaker.”
Is that in Song of Solomon 5, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Asleep, but awake
The chapter's second verse opens, "I was asleep, but my heart was awake" (5:2). In Hebrew the word behind asleep is in its feminine form, so the one speaking is a woman. Awake is ur (tap awake), the verb of the charge the Song gives three times, "that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires" (8:4), which 2:7 and 3:5 give in almost the same words; there stir up and awaken are both forms of it. It is also the verb of "Awake, north wind" (4:16). Then a voice comes: "It is the voice of my beloved who knocks" (5:2). As chapter 2's notes point out, the voice of my beloved are the words that open 2:8: "The voice of my beloved!" (2:8). In Hebrew they are the same two words, qol dodi.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Song of Solomon 5
That was a taste
The rest of Song of Solomon 5 is waiting in Favor
- Three hearts, three words
- How the second search goes on
- "How is your beloved better?"
- Said of her, said of him
- Where 5:1 stands in chapter 1's question
- 8 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
דּוֹדdodsay DODE
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "beloved, love (pl.), uncle". Chapter 5 has it 13 times in Hebrew, more than any other chapter of the Song, which has it 39 times in all. Four of them are in one verse: "How 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?" (5:9). The chapter ends with it: "This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem" (5:16). Elsewhere the same word is uncle: Esther was "his uncle’s daughter" (Esther 2:7).
For your group
Song of Solomon 5 Bible study questions
- 1"How is your beloved better than another beloved…?" (5:9). The chapter answers in 5:10-16. What do you notice about how the answer is given, and how it ends?
- 2"The watchmen who go about the city found me" comes in 3:3 and in 5:7, and the two nights go on very differently (3:4, 5:7-8). What stands out to you as you set the two side by side?
- 3"This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (5:16). What does *my friend* add beside *my beloved*?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Song of Solomon 5 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home