Song of Solomon 3:2

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.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
rise	אָק֨וּמָה 'a.Ku.mah	H6965	to rise (in various applications · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
about	וַאֲסוֹבְבָ֣ה va.'a.so.Vah	H5437	to revolve · conjunction + verb, piel infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
city	בָעִ֗יר va.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
streets	בַּשְּׁוָקִים֙ ba.she.va.Kim	H7784	a street (as run over) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
ways	וּבָ֣רְחֹב֔וֹת u.Va.re.cho.Vot	H7339	a width · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
seek	אֲבַקְשָׁ֕ה 'a.vak.Shah	H1245	to search out (by any method · verb, piel infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
soul	נַפְשִׁ֑י naf.Shi	H5315	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
loveth	שֶׁאָהֲבָ֖ה she.'a.ha.Vah	H157	to have affection for (sexually or otherwise) · relative particle + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
sought	בִּקַּשְׁתִּ֖יו bi.kash.Tiv	H1245	to search out (by any method · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
found	מְצָאתִֽיו me.tza.Tiv	H4672	properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Ephesians 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Psalms 22:1-2 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psalms 42:7-9 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
Psalms 43:2-5 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Psalms 77:7-10 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Proverbs 1:20-21 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
Proverbs 8:2-3 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Song of Solomon 3:2

I will rise now,.... Perceiving she had taken a wrong method, and therefore unsuccessful, she fixes on another; and, in the strength of divine grace, determines to pursue it, and "now", at once, immediately, without any delay, "rise" from her bed of sloth and ease, and forego her carnal pleasures, in pursuit of her beloved; which showed the sincerity of her love to him; and go about the city; not the city of Jerusalem, though there may be an allusion to it; but the spiritual city, of which saints are fellow citizens, where they dwell, and where the word is preached, and the ordinances are administered: and "going about" it, as she proposed, showed her diligence and industry in seeking him:…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 3:2

The poem is partly about a lover’s being willing and able to overcome all obstacles in order to be with the beloved. • Since the women of Jerusalem are mentioned frequently (3:5), the city is probably Jerusalem. Searching in all its streets and squares was an ambitious effort. • The king of Israel would probably not be outside in the city at night, and if he had his sixty-man entourage with him (3:7-8), she would find him easily. Rather, the woman appears to be looking for a common man in common places.

Rashi on Song of Solomon 3:2

I will rise now ... I will seek. “And Moshe prayed,”5Shemos 32:11. [and] “I will go up to the Adonoy.”6Ibid. 32:30.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

But whoever does not find his beloved, it remains that he arise and go about the city, that is, traverse the holy Church of the elect with mind and inquiry; let him seek him through streets and squares, that is, let him observe those walking through narrow and broad ways, so that if he can find any traces of him in them, he may search them out, because there are some, even of secular life, who have something to imitate in the practice of virtue.
— Gregory the Dialogist, 40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 25

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Cities · Illustrative of: Visible church — Illustrative of: Visible church
Love To Christ · Manifested in: Seeking him — Manifested in: Seeking him
Seekers · 5:8;8:5,6; — 5:8;8:5,6;
Seeking God · Saints: Earnest in — Saints: Earnest in

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).