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Monday, November 25th, 2024
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Read the Bible

New King James Version

Song of Solomon 6:12

Before I was even aware,My soul had made meAs the chariots of my noble people. [fn]

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Torrey's Topical Textbook - Chariots;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Amminadab;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Amminadib;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Amminadab;   Canticles;   ;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ammi-Nadib;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Amminadib;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Amminadib ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Amminadib;   Chariot;   Preparation;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Amminadib;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ammin'adib;   Garden;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Amminadab;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Amminadib;   Or;   Song of Songs;   Wisdom of Solomon, the;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Aminadab;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
Before I realized it, my strong desires had taken me to the chariot of a noble man.
Update Bible Version
Before I was aware, my soul set me [Among] the chariots of my princely people.
New Century Version
Before I realized it, my desire for you made me feel like a prince in a chariot.
New English Translation
I was beside myself with joy! There please give me your myrrh, O daughter of my princely people.
Webster's Bible Translation
Or ere I was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Amminadib.
World English Bible
Without realizing it, My desire set me with my royal people's chariots. Friends
Amplified Bible
"Before I was aware [of what was happening], my desire had brought me Into the area of the princes of my people [the king's retinue]."
English Standard Version
Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y knew not; my soule disturblide me, for the charis of Amynadab.
English Revised Version
Or ever I was aware, my soul set me [among] the chariots of my princely people.
Berean Standard Bible
Before I realized it, my desire had set me among the chariots of my noble people.
Contemporary English Version
But in my imagination I was suddenly riding on a glorious chariot.
American Standard Version
Before I was aware, my soul set me Among the chariots of my princely people.
Bible in Basic English
Before I was conscious of it, ••• Three dots are used where it is no longer possible to be certain of the true sense of the Hebrew words, and for this reason no attempt has been made to put them into Basic English.
Complete Jewish Bible
Before I knew it, I found myself in a chariot, and with me was a prince.
Darby Translation
Before I was aware, My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people.
Easy-to-Read Version
I was so excited when she put me in the royal chariot.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Before I was aware, my soul set me upon the chariots of my princely people.
King James Version (1611)
Or euer I was aware, my soule made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
New Life Bible
Before I knew it, I wanted to be over the war-wagons of the princes of my people."
New Revised Standard
Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I knewe nothing, my soule set me as the charets of my noble people.
George Lamsa Translation
And being unfamiliar with the place, I sat in the public chariot which was ready.
Good News Translation
I am trembling; you have made me as eager for love as a chariot driver is for battle.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I know not how it was , my soul, set for me the chariots of my willing people!
Douay-Rheims Bible
(6-11) I knew not: my soul troubled me for the chariots of Aminadab.
Revised Standard Version
Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I knewe not that my soule had made me the charyot of the people that be vnder tribute.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Return, return, O Sunamite; return, return, and we will look at thee. What will ye see in the Sunamite? She comes as bands of armies.
Christian Standard Bible®
I didn’t know what was happening to me.I felt like I wasin a chariot with a nobleman.
Hebrew Names Version
Without realizing it, My desire set me with my royal people's chariots. Friends
King James Version
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
Lexham English Bible
I did not know my heart set me in a chariot of my princely people.
Literal Translation
I did not know, but My soul set Me on the chariots of My princely people.
Young's Literal Translation
I knew not my soul, It made me -- chariots of my people Nadib.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then the charettes of the prynce of my people made me sodenly afrayed.
New American Standard Bible
"Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people."
Legacy Standard Bible
I did not know it, but my soul set meAmong the chariots of my noble people."

Contextual Overview

11 I went down to the garden of nuts To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine had budded And the pomegranates had bloomed. 12 Before I was even aware,My soul had made meAs the chariots of my noble people. [fn] 13 The Beloved and His FriendsReturn, return, O Shulamite;Return, return, that we may look upon you! The ShulamiteWhat would you see in the Shulamite--As it were, the dance of the two camps? [fn]

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Or ever I was aware: Heb. I knew not

soul: Jeremiah 31:18-20, Hosea 11:8, Hosea 11:9, Luke 15:20

made me like the chariots of Amminadib: or, set me on the chariots of my willing people

Reciprocal: Song of Solomon 3:4 - but Song of Solomon 4:9 - thou hast

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
Genesis 6:2
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
Genesis 6:3
And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive [fn] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
Genesis 6:4
There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Genesis 6:5
Then the Lord [fn] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:8
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Genesis 6:13
Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20">[xr] And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:14
Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
Genesis 6:15
And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
Genesis 6:16
You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Or ever one was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Amminadib. These are either the words of the church or of Christ, saying, "I know not" y as the first clause may be rendered: if the words of the church, the sense may be, that though she knew not where her beloved was gone, when he went from her, yet she ran about in search of him as swiftly as the chariots of Amminadib; and when she did know that he was gone down into the garden, immediately, on a sudden, at an unawares, such was the strength of her love and affection to him, the she moved as swiftly after him as if she had been in one of those chariots; and this may signify also her courage and resolution, that, notwithstanding all difficulties and discouragements she met with, she drove on as briskly and as courageously after him as ever Amminadib did, in one of his chariots, in the field of battle: or, "I know not"; whether in the body or out of the body; such was the rapture and ecstasy she was in, when she heard her beloved say, "I went down into the garden of nuts", c. or, when she heard the daughters' commendations of her, she did not think that such belonged to her, and therefore said, "I know not" however, this caused her to make the greater haste to answer such characters, and to enjoy the company of her beloved. But rather they are the words of Christ, who was now in his garden, observing the condition it was in, and says, "I know not", or do not perceive z, that it was in a fruitful and flourishing case, and therefore took all the speedy methods he could to bring it into a better; or being in a transport of love to his church, it caused him speedily to return unto her, and grant her his presence; offer all necessary assistance, and be as chariots to her, to carry her through difficulties, and to protect and defend her from all enemies: and this his soul caused him to do, not her worth and worthiness, love and loveliness, but his own good will and pleasure, and cordial affection for her. Many take Amminadib to be the proper name of a person, who was one of Solomon's chariot drivers, that understood his business well, and drove swiftly, and with success, to whom Christ compares himself, when returning to his church with haste: but I rather think, with Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others, that it is an appellative, consisting of two words, "ammi", my people, and "nadib", willing or princely, and may be rendered, "the chariots of my willing" or "princely people" a; meaning, not angels, nor ministers, but the people of Christ themselves, to whom he is as chariots; for so I should choose to translate the words, "my soul made me as chariots to my willing" or "princely people"; and so describes the persons who share in this instance of his grace; they are such who are made willing by Christ, in the day of his power on them, to be saved by him, and serve him,

Psalms 110:3; and who are of a free, princely, and munificent spirit, Psalms 2:12; being princes, and the sons and daughters of a prince, Song of Solomon 7:1; to these Christ makes himself as chariots, as he now was to the church, and took her up along with him to enjoy his presence, she had sought for and desired. Wherefore the daughters of Jerusalem, who had accompanied her hitherto in search of him, perceiving she was going from then, say what follows.

y לא ידעתי ουκ εγνω, Sept. "nescivi", V. L. "non novi", Montanus. z "Nondum percipientem haec", Junius Tremellius, Piscator. a עמי נדיב "populi mei spontanei", Pagninus "voluntari", Piscator, Cocceius, Marchius, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The bride’s words may be paraphrased: “You speak of me as a glorious beauty; I was lately but a simple maiden engaged in rustic toils. I went down one day into the walnut-garden” (the walnut abounded on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, and is still common in Northern Palestine) “to inspect the young plants of the vale” (i. e., the wady, or watercourse, with now verdant banks in the early spring after the rainy season), “and to watch the budding and blossoming of vine and pomegranate.” Compare Song of Solomon 2:11-13 notes. “Then, suddenly, ere I was myself aware, my soul” (the love-bound heart) “had made me the chariot of a lordly people” (i. e., an exalted personage, one who resides on the high places of the earth; compare 2Ki 2:12; 2 Kings 13:14, where Elijah and Elisha, as the spiritual leaders of the nation, are “the chariot and horsemen of Israel,” compare also Isaiah 22:18). This last clause is another instance of the love for military similitudes in the writer of the Song.

Ammi-nadib - literally, my people a noble one. The reference is either to Israel at large as a wealthy and dominant nation, under Solomon, or to the bride’s people (the Shulamites) in particular, to the chief place among whom, by her union with the king, she is now exalted.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 12. The chariots of Amminadib. — Probably for their great speed these chariots became proverbial. The passage marks a strong agitation of mind, and something like what we term palpitation of the heart. As I am not aware of any spiritual meaning here, I must be excused from commenting on that which is literal. Amminadib signifies my noble or princely people; but it may here be a proper name, and Amminadib might be celebrated for his skill and rapidity in driving, as Jehu was.


 
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