properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
about
הַסֹּבְבִ֥יםha.soe.Vim
H5437
to revolve · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
city
בָּעִ֖ירba.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
found
מְצָאֻ֧נִיme.tza.'U.ni
H4672
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
smote
הִכּ֣וּנִיhi.Ku.ni
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
wounded
פְצָע֑וּנִיfe.tza.'U.ni
H6481
to split · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
keepers
שֹׁמְרֵ֖יsho.me.Rei
H8104
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
walls
הַחֹמֽוֹתha.cho.Mot
H2346
a wall of protection · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
away
נָשְׂא֤וּna.se.'U
H5375
to lift · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
veil
רְדִידִי֙re.di.Di
H7289
a veil (as expanded) · noun, common masculine 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
Song of Solomon 3:3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
Psalms 141:5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for…
Song of Solomon 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces o…
Isaiah 6:10-11 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,…
Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep no…
Hosea 6:5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth…
Hosea 9:7-8 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for…
Matthew 21:33-41 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, an…
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 5:7
The watchmen that went about the city, found me,.... Of the city and the watchmen in it, and of their finding the church; see Gill on Sol 3:2; See Gill on Sol 3:3;
they smote me, they wounded me; taking her for a night walker, they gave her ill words and hard blows this was not very becoming watchmen to use those of the city in this manner; for, as Plato (l) says, keepers of cities should be mild and gentle towards their own, but to enemies rough and severe: if these were true ministers of Christ, this they did by reproaching her for and upbraiding her with her lukewarmness and unkindness to Christ, sharply reproving her for them; and, instead of comforting her with the doctrines of grace,…
The night watchmen . . . beat and bruised me: The watchmen who were protectors in 3:3 now become demonized characters in her dream (5:2). What they do describes how she feels—pummeled and wounded. • stripped off my veil: She feels that she has lost her dignity.
Rashi on Song of Solomon 5:7
I sought him, etc. The watchmen found me, those who go about the city. And apprehend thieves who prowl at night.
They struck me they wounded me. They inflicted a wound upon me.19I.e., by striking me they inflicted a wound. Alternatively, the double expression [struck, wounded] represents the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdosh and the second Beis Hamikdosh. Every “פֶּצַע” denotes a wound [inflicted] by a weapon,20Rashi in Shemos 25:21 defines “פצע” as “a wound that draws blood.” navredure in O.F.
My ornament. My jewelry that was hammered and beaten out, upon me. The entire episode is an expression [using the terms] of the wife of one’s youth who grieves for the husband of her youth and…
The watchmen found me, etc. The watchmen who go about the city are the holy teachers to whom the care of the Church has been entrusted so that they may protect it from the attack of depraved doctrines, both by word and example, and may kindle ever more the fear and love of their Creator. These indeed go about the city because in all the places of the holy Church, spread out everywhere throughout the whole world, their bodily presence and living voice, or the doctrine inserted in writings or work, is found. They find the bride weary from seeking her beloved, and they strike and wound her because they inflame more with the word of their teaching the soul found anxious with heavenly love; and whenever they discover anything earthly remaining in it, they extinguish it and render it insensible to all lower things, as if wounding by striking: for when the Apostle, describing the armor of God, says: And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. VI); is it any wonder if one touched by this sword is said to be struck and wounded? For with this stroke of the sword, a wound is received, of which it is said elsewhere, I am wounded with love.
The keepers of the walls took my cloak from me. The keepers of the walls are also the highest teachers, as they strive to also instruct those capable of governing and fortifying the Church. I believe Timothy, Titus, and others like them, the laborers of truth, were the walls of God's city; and Paul, when he gives them exhortatory commands, what else is he to be understood as but a keeper of the walls? For he showed himself to be a keeper of the city, which he diligently went around, when he enumerated his virtues saying: Besides those things which are external, the daily pressure that is on me—my concern for all the churches (2 Cor. 11). He also taught that he was a keeper of the walls when he said to Timothy: But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Tim. 4), and similar instructions. And to Titus: For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you (Tit. 1). The keepers of the walls take the cloak of the bride who is struck and wounded, when apostles or apostolic men, touched by divine love, take away the ties of passing things from any soul, so that, freed from lower cares, it may seek its Creator's face with freer course. For the cloak is the same, which is over the tunic; where he says: I have taken off my tunic, signifying the entanglements of earthly matters.
Dictionary and topics
Veil, vail — (1.) Heb. mitpahath (Ruth 3:15; marg., “sheet” or “apron;” R.V., “mantle”). In Isa. 3:22 this word is plural, rendered “wimples;” R.V., “shawls” i.e., wraps. (2.) Massekah (Isa. 25:7; in Isa. 28:20…
Cities · Protected at night by watchmen — Protected at night by watchmen
Vail Or Veil · The removing of, considered rude and insolent — The removing of, considered rude and insolent
Walls · Of cities: Kept by watchmen night and day — Of cities: Kept by watchmen night and day
Watchman · On the walls of cities — On the walls of cities
Watchmen · Paraded the streets at night to preserve order — Paraded the streets at night to preserve order
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).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
