Upon my bed: the young woman speaks. Although this is a semi-independent unit, there is no need to add a marginal note to identify her as speaker. We already have that in 2.8. She describes herself as being Upon my bed. This we can convey as “In bed,” or “As I lay on my bed.” These are better renderings than Good News Translation “Asleep on my bed,” which leaves no choice but to conclude that the young woman is dreaming. As noted above, the text does not require the interpretation that she was asleep.

The adverbial phrase by night uses a Hebrew plural form that probably means “regularly at night” as in Psa 16.7. Good News Translation renders it as “night after night” and New English Bible supports that. Pope, however, disagrees, saying that the plural means merely “at night.” A similar phrase in 3.8 seems to support Pope’s view. However, the expression “at night” can also mean “regularly each night,” so we may still think of it as “often at night.”

I sought: this is the first use in this section of the key verb “seek,” with a primary meaning “look for” and a secondary meaning “long for.” Almost unanimously commentators interpret the meaning here to be figurative. Alone in bed the young woman longs for her lover. This interpretation combines well with our proposal for “by night”: “Night after night I longed for my lover.” Goulder, however, prefers a nonfigurative usage. He sees the young woman reaching across the bed to touch her lover, only to find him gone.

If we follow the majority and agree that “seek” is being used figuratively here, this leaves us with an important decision about the style of the translation we use. Should we use verbs such as “long for” or “desire”? Or alternatively should we try to maintain the key verb “seek” (and “find”), and so preserve the literary style of the original? The theme of “seeking” and “finding” is a dominant one, not just in this passage but throughout the Song. Because of this translators may wish to retain the original form in order to highlight these key terms.

Him whom my soul loves: see comments in 1.7. It can be translated also as “the one I love” or “my lover.”

I sought him, but found him not: this is the second occurrence of the verb “seek.” Note how repeating the previous line expresses the disappointment the young woman feels. In most languages this stylistic feature can be preserved. In others repeating the verb may be preferred: “I longed and longed for him” or “I looked and looked for him.” However, in some languages the two clauses will have to be reduced to one, in which case some adverb or word indicating intensity can be added to convey her strong emotion: “I longed for my lover so much, but I could not find him” or “I looked in vain for the one I love.”

Found him not: found is the second part of the word pair “seek”—“find.” Again, it is probably used figuratively, meaning here that, because she could not find him, her longing was not fulfilled.

For the entire verse we can say:

• Often at night in bed I longed for my lover; I longed for him to come, but he did not [or, but I was disappointed].

Alternatively the line can be rendered as a disappointing discovery:

• At night on my bed,
I longed for my lover.
I longed for him
But he was not there.

In English an idiom using the verb “find” is a possibility: “… he was nowhere to be found.”

I called him, but he gave no answer: translators of the Septuagint added this phrase, no doubt because they assumed that it was omitted by the Hebrew copyists. They apparently considered that the text here should read the same as 5.6. Some translations retain the Septuagint addition (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible), but there is no adequate reason to do so, even though the Song frequently repeats phrases. We recommend omitting this clause, as it was probably not part of the original Hebrew text.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Song of Songs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1998. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .