Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 5:7
I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The female speaker addresses the daughters of Jerusalem immediately after her beloved departs and she fails to locate him. She describes her subsequent movement through the city streets while searching for him.
The words — The text records the watchmen striking (הִכּוּ/נִי, hi.Ku./ni) and bruising (פְצָע֑וּ/נִי, fe.tza.'U./ni) her. They also lift (נָשְׂא֤וּ, na.se.'U) her cloak, an item of personal covering.
The thread — The speaker encounters city watchmen in Song of Solomon 3:3, where she questions them about her beloved rather than suffering their violence. The physical striking described here parallels the rebuke mentioned in Psalms 141:5, though the surrounding contexts differ.
Why it lands — The verse documents the physical obstruction and loss of protection that accompany a disrupted search. It requires the reader to recognize the speaker's vulnerability and the active resistance she faces in her pursuit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 3:3 I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”
- Psalms 141:5 Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked.
- Song of Solomon 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.
- Isaiah 6:10 Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Isaiah 62:6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,
- Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.
- Hosea 9:7 The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived—let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and hostility.
- Matthew 21:33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
- Matthew 23:2 “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
- Matthew 23:29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.