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The Song of Songs · Chapter 3 of 8

Song of Songs 3

Song of Songs 3 is chapter 3 of 8 in the Song of Songs. Here are all 11 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

About this chapter

Bp. Challoner’s summary

The spouse seeks Christ. The glory of his humanity.

Bp. Richard Challoner · chapter summary

Song of Songs 3, Catholic Public Domain Version

Song of Songs 3Song 3
  1. Bride: On my bed, throughout the night, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him.†

    In lectulo meo, per noctes, quæsivi quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.

  2. 2

    I will rise up, and I will circle through the city. Through the side streets and thoroughfares, I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, and did not find him.

    Surgam, et circuibo civitatem: per vicos et plateas quæram quem diligit anima mea: quæsivi illum, et non inveni.

  3. 3

    The watchers who guard the city found me: “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

    Invenerunt me vigiles qui custodiunt civitatem: Num quem diligit anima mea vidistis?

  4. 4

    When I had passed by them a little, I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not release him, until I would bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who bore me.

    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.

  5. 5

    Groom to Chorus: I bind you by oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the does and the stags of the open field, not to disturb or awaken the beloved, until she wills.

    Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, per capreas cervosque camporum, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.

  6. 6

    Chorus to Groom: Who is she, who ascends through the desert, like a staff of smoke from the aromatics of myrrh, and frankincense, and every powder of the perfumer?

    Quæ est ista quæ ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhæ, et thuris, et universi pulveris pigmentarii?

  7. 7

    Chorus to Bride: Lo, sixty strong ones, out of all the strongest in Israel, stand watch at the bed of Solomon,

    En lectulum Salomonis sexaginta fortes ambiunt ex fortissimis Israël,

  8. 8

    all holding swords and well-trained in warfare, each one’s weapon upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.

    omnes tenentes gladios, et ad bella doctissimi: uniuscujusque ensis super femur suum propter timores nocturnos.

  9. 9

    Bride to Chorus: King Solomon made himself a portable throne from the wood of Lebanon.

    Ferculum fecit sibi rex Salomon de lignis Libani;

  10. 10

    He made its columns of silver, the reclining place of gold, the ascent of purple; the middle he covered well, out of charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.

    columnas ejus fecit argenteas, reclinatorium aureum, ascensum purpureum; media caritate constravit, propter filias Jerusalem.

  11. 11

    O daughters of Zion, go forth and see king Solomon with the diadem with which his mother crowned him, on the day of his espousal, on the day of the rejoicing of his heart.

    Egredimini et videte, filiæ Sion, regem Salomonem in diademate quo coronavit illum mater sua in die desponsationis illius, et in die lætitiæ cordis ejus.

Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain · Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592)

Bishop Challoner’s notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750). They comment on its older English wording, which can differ from the CPDV above; the verse numbers are matched to the CPDV.

  1. Verse 1

    The Gentiles as in the dark, and seeking in heathen delusion what they could not find, the true God, until Christ revealed his doctrine to them by his watchmen, (ver. 3,) that is, by the apostles, and teachers by whom they were converted to the true faith; and holding that faith firmly, the spouse (the Catholic Church) declares, ver. 4, That she will not let him go, till she bring him into her mother's house, etc., that is, till at last, the Jews also shall find him.

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All 8 chapters of Song of Songs

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