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Song of Songs 5:7-9
New Catholic Bible
Song of Songs 5:7-9
New Catholic Bible
I Am Sick with Love[a]
7 The watchmen[b] came upon me
as they made their rounds of the city.
They beat me and wounded me
and took my cloak from me,
those guardians of the walls.
8 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
if you should find my beloved,
please tell him this:
that I am sick with love.
Companions:
9 In what way is your beloved better than any other,
O fairest of women?
In what way is your beloved better than any other
that you lay this charge upon us?
Footnotes
- Song of Songs 5:7 Distraught at having missed the rendezvous, the bride runs to seek out the bridegroom. What an adventure this journey into the night becomes! She runs into the guardians of the walls who maltreat her; then a group of young women joke at her: What do you see in your beloved? Her reply comes from the heart, for she bears the portrait of her beloved within her—what a treasure!
In Israel, after so many losses, there is reborn a new ardor to seek God when trials and mockeries mount up, at the return from the Exile or in the pagan dispersion. There is no clearer witness than a sincere conversion. But is not God the first to awaken the human heart in which he is secretly present? In St. Augustine’s words, “You would not be seeking me if you had not already found me.” The more we understand God, the more ardently do we seek his countenance. - Song of Songs 5:7 Watchmen: see note on Song 3:3.
