Song of Solomon 3:5

5 Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.

Song of Solomon 3:5 Meaning and Commentary

Song of Solomon 3:5

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem
Which are either the words of Christ, adjuring the young converts not to disturb the church; who had now Christ in her arms, taking repose with him, being wearied with running about in search of him: or they are the words of the church; who having experienced a long absence of Christ, and having been at much pains in search of him, and now had found him, was very unwilling to part with him; and fearing these young converts should by any unbecoming word or action provoke him to depart, she gives them a solemn charge; by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor
awake my love, till he please; (See Gill on Song of Solomon 2:7).

Song of Solomon 3:5 In-Context

3 The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?”

4 Then scarcely had I left them when I found my love! I caught and held him tightly, then I brought him to my mother’s house, into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived.

5 Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.

6 Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness like a cloud of smoke? Who is it, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense and every kind of spice?

7 Look, it is Solomon’s carriage, surrounded by sixty heroic men, the best of Israel’s soldiers.

Footnotes

• [a] Or not to awaken love until it is ready.