Song of Solomon 5 · Verse 2

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.
Song of Solomon 5:2, King James Version

Song of Solomon 5:2 in other translations

BSBI sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
WEBI was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
ASVI was asleep, but my heart waked: 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, My locks with the drops of the night.
YLTI am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! ‘Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled with dew, My locks with drops of the night.'
DARBYI slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.
BBEI am sleeping, but my heart is awake; it is the sound of my loved one at the door, saying, Be open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my very beautiful one; my head is wet with dew, and my hair with the drops of the night.
WebsterI 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.

What does Song of Solomon 5:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. Sudden change of scene from evening to midnight, from a betrothal feast to cold repulse. He has gone from the feast alone; night is come; He knocks at the door of His espoused; she hears, but in sloth does not shake off half-conscious drowsiness; namely, the disciples' torpor (Mt 26:40-43), "the spirit willing, the flesh weak" (compare Ro 7:18-25; Ga 5:16, 17, 24). Not total sleep. The lamp was burning beside the slumbering wise virgin, but wanted trimming (Mt 25:5-7). It is His voice that rouses her (Jon 1:6; Ep 5:14; Re 3:20). Instead of bitter reproaches, He addresses her by the most endearing titles, "my sister, my love," &c. Compare His thought of Peter after the denial (Mr 16:7). dew--which falls heavily in summer nights in the East (see Lu 9:58). drops of the night--(Psa 22:2; Lu 22:44). His death is not expressed, as unsuitable to the allegory, a song of love and joy; So 5:4 refers to the scene in the judgment hall of Caiaphas, when Jesus Christ employed the cock-crowing and look of love to awaken Peter's sleeping conscience, so that his "bowels were moved" (Lu 22:61, 62); So 5:5, 6, the disciples with "myrrh," &c. (Lu 24:1, 5), seeking Jesus Christ in the tomb, but finding Him not, for He has "withdrawn Himself" (Joh 7:34; 13:33); So 5:7, the trials by watchmen extend through the whole night of His withdrawal from Gethsemane to the resurrection; they took off the "veil" of Peter's disguise; also, literally the linen cloth from the young man (Mr 14:51); So 5:8, the sympathy of friends (Lu 23:27). undefiled--not polluted by spiritual adultery (Re 14:4; Jas 4:4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh - This is a new part; and some suppose that the fifth day's solemnity begins here. Though I sleep, yet so impressed is may heart with the excellences of my beloved, that my imagination presents him to me in the most pleasing dreams throughout the night. I doubt whether the whole, from this verse to the end of the seventh, be not a dream: several parts of it bear this resemblance; and I confess there are some parts of it, such as her hesitating to rise, his sudden disappearance, etc., which would be of easier solution on this supposition. Or part of the transactions mentioned might be the effects of the dream she had, as rising up suddenly, and going out into the street, meeting with the watchmen, etc., before she was well awake. And her being in so much disorder and dishabille might have induced them to treat her as a suspiciovs person, or one of questionable character. But it is most likely the whole was a dream. For my head is filled with dew - She supposed he had come in the night, and was standing without, wet, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Song of Solomon 5:2-8
Churches and believers, by carelessness and security, provoke Christ to withdraw. We ought to notice our spiritual slumbers and distempers. Christ knocks to awaken us, knocks by his word and Spirit, knocks by afflictions and by our consciences; thus, Rev. 3:20. When we are unmindful of Christ, still he thinks of us. Christ's love to us should engage ours to him, even in the most self-denying instances; and we only can be gainers by it. Careless souls put slights on Jesus Christ. Another could not be sent to open the door. Christ calls to us, but we have no mind, or pretend we have no strength, or we have no time, and think we may be excused. Making excuses is making light of Christ. Those put contempt upon Christ, who cannot find in their hearts to bear a cold blast, or to leave a warm bed for him. See the powerful influences of Divine grace. He put in his hand to unbolt the door, as one weary of waiting. This betokens a work of the Spirit upon the soul. The believer's rising above self-indulgence, seeking by prayer for the consolations of Christ, and to remove every hinderance to communion with him; these actings of the soul are represented by the hands dropping sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the locks. But the Beloved was gone! By absenting himself, Christ will teach his people to value his gracious visits more highly. Observe, the soul still calls Christ her Beloved. Every desertion is not despair. Lord, I believe, though I must say, Lord, help my unbelief. His words melted me, yet, wretch that I was, I made excuses. The smothering and stifling of convictions will be very bitter to think of, when God opens our eyes. The soul went in pursuit of him; not only prayed, but used means, sought him in the ways wherein he used to be found. The watchmen wounded me. Some refer it to those who misapply the word to awakened consciences. The charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, seems to mean the distressed believer's desire of the prayers of the feeblest Christian. Awakened souls are more sensible of Christ's withdrawings than of any other trouble.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Song of Solomon 5:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אֲנִ֥י'a.NiIH589
יְשֵׁנָ֖הye.she.Nah[was] sleepingH3463
וְלִבִּ֣יve.li.Biand heart myH3820
עֵ֑ר'Er[was] awakeH5782
ק֣וֹל\׀Kol[the] sound ofH6963
דּוֹדִ֣יdo.Dilover myH1730
דוֹפֵ֗קdo.FekknockingH1849
פִּתְחִי\־pit.chi-openH6605
לִ֞יlito me
אֲחֹתִ֤י'a.cho.TiO sister myH269
רַעְיָתִי֙ra'.ya.Tifriend myH7474
יוֹנָתִ֣יyo.na.Tidove myH3123
תַמָּתִ֔יta.ma.Tiperfect [one] myH8535
שֶׁרֹּאשִׁי֙she.ro.Shithat head myH7218
נִמְלָא\־nim.la'-[is] filledH4390
טָ֔לTaldewH2919
קְוֻּצּוֹתַ֖יke.vu.tzo.Tailocks myH6977
רְסִ֥יסֵיre.Si.seidewdrops ofH7447
לָֽיְלָה\׃La.ye.lahnightH3915

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Song of Solomon 5:2

  • 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 with me.

  • 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 sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

  • 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 blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

  • 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

    א ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

  • Song of Solomon 4:7

    Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

  • Matthew 8:17

    That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

  • Song of Solomon 3:1

    By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

  • Isaiah 50:6

    I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

  • 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. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

  • 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.

  • Psalms 81:10

    I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
sleep.
3:1; 7:9; Da 8:18; Zec 4:1; Mt 25:4,5; 26:40,41; Lu 9:32; Eph 5:14
the voice.
2:8,10; Joh 10:4
knocketh.
Re 3:20
Open.
Ps 24:7-10; 81:10; Pr 23:26
my dove.
2:14; 6:9; Ps 119:1; Re 3:4; 14:4
my head.
8:7; Ge 29:20; 31:40,41; Isa 50:6; 52:14; 53:3-5; Mt 8:17; 25:35-45
Mr 1:35; Lu 6:12; 22:44; 2Co 5:14,15; Ga 2:20

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Song of Solomon 5:1

    I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

  • 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.

  • Song of Solomon 5:3

    I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

Read all of Song of Solomon 5

Song of Solomon 5:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Yo dormía, pero mi corazón velaba: la voz de mi amado que llamaba: Abreme, hermana mía, amiga mía, paloma mía, perfecta mía; porque mi cabeza está llena de rocío, mis cabellos de las gotas de la noche.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		*Je dormais, mais mon cœur était réveillé. C’est la voix de mon bien-aimé qui heurte: Ouvre-moi, ma sœur, mon amie, ma colombe, ma parfaite! Car ma tête est pleine de rosée, mes boucles, des gouttes de la nuit.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich schlief, aber mein Herz wachte. Horch! Mein Geliebter! Er klopft: Tue mir auf, meine Schwester, meine Freundin, meine Taube, meine Vollkommene! Denn mein Haupt ist voll Tau, meine Locken voll Tropfen der Nacht. -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat. Vox dilecti mei pulsantis: Aperi mihi, soror mea, amica mea, columba mea, immaculata mea, quia caput meum plenum est rore, et cincinni mei guttis noctium.