Song of Solomon 3:4

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
little	כִּמְעַט֙ kim.'At	H4592	a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
passed	שֶׁעָבַ֣רְתִּי she.'a.Var.ti	H5674	to cross over · relative particle + verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
found	שֶֽׁמָּצָ֔אתִי she.ma.Tza.ti	H4672	properly · relative particle + verb, qal perfect, 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
held	אֲחַזְתִּיו֙ 'a.chaz.Tiv	H270	to seize (often with the accessory idea of holding in p… · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
go	אַרְפֶּ֔נּוּ 'ar.Pe.nu	H7503	to slacken (in many applications · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
brought	שֶׁ֤הֲבֵיאתִיו֙ she.ha.vei.tiv	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · relative particle + verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
mother’s	אִמִּ֔י 'i.Mi	H517	a mother (as the bond of the family) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
house	בֵּ֣ית beit	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
chamber	חֶ֖דֶר Che.der	H2315	an apartment (usually literal) · noun, common masculine singular construct
conceived	הוֹרָתִֽי ho.ra.Ti	H2029	to be (or become) pregnant · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix

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

Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Proverbs 4:13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
Song of Solomon 6:12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
Song of Solomon 8:2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of…
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteous…
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

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 3:4

It was but a little that I passed from them,.... Either a small moment of time, as the Targum and Aben Ezra; or a little distance of place, that is, from the watchmen or ministers, from whom she passed; not through disrespect to them, much less contempt of them; nor because she received no benefit at all from them; but her going on shows she did not rest in means, but looked beyond them, and went on further in the exercise of her faith, and hope of finding her beloved: and meeting with him a little after she had passed from the ministers suggests that Christ is not far from his ministers and ordinances; for it follows, but I found him whom my soul loveth; which she expresses with the utmost…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 3:3

The watchmen of ancient towns or cities were roughly equivalent to police. Guardians of social custom and law, they were posted on the city walls to look out for attack and to assure that any traffic in or out of the city was not threatening. • The woman may have been stopped because she was not a resident of the city and was not recognized. It was not considered appropriate for a woman to be out alone at night. The scene accentuates the strong desire that the woman must have felt toward the man as she ignored social conventions and safety considerations.

Rashi on Song of Solomon 3:4

Scarcely had I departed from them. Shortly after their parting from me,8I.e., shortly after the deaths of Moshe and Aharon. at the end of the forty years. When I found. That He was with me in the days of Yehoshua to conquer the thirty-one kings. I grasped him and would not let him go. I did not loosen my grasp on Him until I brought Him to the Tabernacle at Shiloh because of all this that He had done for me.

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

The chamber is indeed the heart that becomes an acceptable dwelling of God when it returns to that state which it had in the beginning made by "her who conceived me." We would be correct by understanding "mother" as the first cause of our being.
— Gregory of Nyssa, HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 6

When we pass a little beyond them, we find him whom we love, because our Redeemer, though by humility a man among men, was nevertheless by divinity above men. Therefore when the watchmen are passed by, the beloved is found, because when we perceive that the prophets and apostles are beneath him, we consider that he who is God by nature is above men.
— Gregory the Dialogist, 40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 25

But otherwise the footstool of the feet of Jesus is the soul of the believer. Happy is he in whose breast the feet of Jesus are daily placed. Would that his feet were placed in my breast too, would that his footprints might ever cling in my heart, would that I too might say with the bride: "I will hold him, and I will not let him go." The bridegroom is quickly offended, he ever loves cleanness: wherever he sees filth, he quickly withdraws.
— Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 26 (PSALM 98)

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

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).