Song of Solomon 5:2

I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
sleep	יְשֵׁנָ֖ה ye.she.Nah	H3463	sleepy · adjective, feminine singular absolute
heart	וְלִבִּ֣י ve.li.Bi	H3820	the heart · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
waketh	עֵ֑ר 'Er	H5782	to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
voice	ק֣וֹל Kol	H6963	a voice or sound · noun, common masculine singular construct
beloved	דּוֹדִ֣י do.Di	H1730	(figuratively) to love · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
knocketh	דוֹפֵ֗ק do.Fek	H1849	to knock · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Open	פִּתְחִי pit.chi-	H6605	to open wide (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
sister	אֲחֹתִ֤י 'a.cho.Ti	H269	a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
love	רַעְיָתִי֙ ra'.ya.Ti	H7474	a female associate · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
dove	יוֹנָתִ֣י yo.na.Ti	H3123	a dove (apparently from the warmth of their mating) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
undefiled	תַמָּתִ֔י ta.ma.Ti	H8535	complete · adjective, feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
head	שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי֙ she.ro.Shi	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · relative particle + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
filled	נִמְלָא nim.la'-	H4390	to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
dew	טָ֔ל Tal	H2919	dew (as covering vegetation) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
locks	קְוֻּצּוֹתַ֖י ke.vu.tzo.Tai	H6977	a forelock (as shorn) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix
drops	רְסִ֥יסֵי re.Si.sei	H7447	properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
night	לָֽיְלָה La.ye.lah	H3915	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute

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

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he wi…
Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sw…
Song of Solomon 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and…
Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
Psalms 119:1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Genesis 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
Genesis 31:40-41 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.
Psalms 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

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 5:2

I sleep, but my heart waketh,.... Like persons that are half awake, half asleep, whom Cicero (x) calls "semisomni". Christ and the church having feasted together at his invitation, she soon after fell asleep, as the disciples did after a repast with their Lord; yet not so fast asleep but that she was sensible of it; for this was not the dead sleep of sin, in which unconverted men are, and are insensible of; nor a judicial slumber some are given up unto, and perceive it not, yet a frame of spirit unbecoming saints, and displeasing to Christ; though consistent with grace, which at such a time is not, or very little, in exercise; they are slothful in duty, and backward to it; the phrase is some…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 5:2–end

One verse earlier, the couple are fully enjoying their intimate union. Now the woman feels the torment of separation. In the dramatic interpretation, the woman has been separated from the man twice before and has searched for him (1:4-7; 3:1-4). This last time, the separation takes place in her dreams—it is only a nightmare. Her dream seems to extend to 6:3, given the natural flow of questions and answers between the woman and the young women of Jerusalem. • If the Song is an anthology, these poems explore love rather than giving accounts of actual events. This poem reminds us that an intimate relationship is not always easy or perfectly satisfying. 5:2 I slept, but my heart was awake: This…

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Rashi on Song of Solomon 5:2

I slept. When I was confident and calm in the first Beis Hamikdosh, I despaired of worshiping the Holy One, Blessed Is He, as one who slumbers and falls fast asleep. But my heart was awake. This is the Holy One, Blessed Is He. This is expounded in the Pesikta.9Alternatively, ולבי ער, refers to the prophets and the sages who were constantly exhorting and rousing the Bnei Yisroel to rise from their spiritual sluggishness. (Sforno) But my heart was awake. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, Who is, “the Rock of my heart and my portion,”10Tehillim 73:26. is awake to guard me and to benefit me. A sound! My beloved knocks. He rests His Divine Presence upon the prophets and He warns through them by, “r…

The Church Fathers

I sleep, he says, on the cross, insofar as he suffers death on behalf of humanity. But his heart remains awake because, as God, he plunders hades.
— Cyril of Alexandria, FRAGMENTS IN THE COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 5:2

As the dew from the heavens removes the dryness of the night, so the dew of our Lord Jesus Christ descends as the moisture of eternal life into the nocturnal shadows of the world. This is the head that knows nothing of the dryness caused by the heat of this world.
— Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 12:70

According to the counsel of the apostle, the zealous person can do all things for the glory of God, so that every act and every word and every work has in it power of praise. Whether the just person eats or drinks, he does all for the glory of God. The heart of such a one watches when he is sleeping, according to him who said in the Song of Solomon: "I sleep, and my heart watches." For on many occasions the visions seen during sleep are images of our thoughts by day.
— Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 16:1 (PSALM 33)

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

Dove, The · Illustrative: Of the church — Illustrative: Of the church
Night · Frequently: Accompanied by heavy dew — Frequently: Accompanied by heavy dew
Titles And Names Of The Church · Dove — Dove

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).