What Does Song of Solomon 3:3 Mean in the King James?
The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“My soul” here is “my living self,” so the search for the beloved is the movement of her whole life toward the one she loves.
THE MEANING
Your longing belongs to your whole living self; it reaches beyond inward feeling into the streets where you search. Even the watchmen circling the city become witnesses you can ask about the one you love.
THE ROOT
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נ־פ־שׁ
n-p-sh
The root family names the living self and life; its related verb carries the sense of resting or being refreshed.
“soul” in this verse is nafshi. In נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my living self”), the possessive makes the longing personal through and through. The Hebrew names the living person, so the search is the action of her whole self.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul; a living person, self, or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the noun in its base form; it shows that “my soul” can name the whole person who loves.
naphash: To rest or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb belongs to the same root family and shows that the word’s branches extend into renewal of the living self.
THE PATTERN
Longing belongs to the whole living self and turns it toward the one it loves.
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.Both verses use נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, “living self”) for the one who longs. Song gives that longing a search through the city; the psalm makes the same whole-self desire audible as thirst.
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