I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me.

I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself; he was gone: My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

I opened to my beloved, But my beloved withdrew, he passed on, My soul went forth when he spake, I sought him, and found him not. I called him, and he answered me not.

I made the door open to my loved one; but my loved one had taken himself away, and was gone, my soul was feeble when his back was turned on me; I went after him, but I did not come near him; I said his name, but he gave me no answer.

I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had turned away, and was gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

I opened to my beloved,.... Which was what he desired, and was done in virtue of his putting in his hand by the hole of the door; or by the exertion of his efficacious grace, working in her both to will and to do, without which it would not have been done; namely, her heart dilated, the desires and affections of her soul enlarged towards Christ, and every grace drawn forth and exercised on him; and though the heart of a believer is sometimes shut to Christ, yet when it is opened, it is only patent to him; the church thought Christ was still at the door, and might be the more confirmed in it by what she found on the handles of the lock; but lo her mistake,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: a sad disappointment this! she expected to have seen him, and been received in his arms and embraced in his bosom; but instead of that, he was gone out of sight and hearing: this withdrawing was to chastise her for her former carriage, and to show her more the evil of her sin, and his resentment of it; to try the truth and strength of her grace to inflame her love the more, and sharpen her desires after his presence, to prize it more when she had it, and be careful not to lose it: her using two words of the same import, "he turned himself" (h), and was gone, signifies that he was really gone, and not in her imagination only; and that he was gone suddenly, at an unawares, and, as she might fear, would never return; and these words being without a copulative, "had withdrawn himself, he was gone", show her haste in speaking, the confusion she was in, thee strength of her passion, the greatness of her disappointment and sorrow; it is as if she was represented wringing her hands and crying, He is gone, he is gone, he is gone;
my soul failed when he spake; or "went out" (i); not out of her body, but she fell into a swoon, and was as one dead; for a while; and this was "at" or "through his word" (k), as it may be rendered; through what he said when he turned about and departed, expressing his resentment at her behavior; or rather at the remembrance of his kind and tender language he used when he first called her to arise, "saying, open to me, my sister, my spouse", &c. Song 5:2; and when she called to mind how sadly she had slighted and neglected him, it cut her to the heart, and threw her into this fainting fit;
I sought him, but I could not find him; in the public ordinances of his house; See Gill on Song 3:2;
I called him, but he gave me no answer; called him by his name as she went along the streets and broad ways of the city, where she supposed he might be; praying aloud, and most earnestly and fervently, that he would return to her; but had no answer, at least not immediately, and thus be treated her in the same manner she had treated him; he had called to her and she disregarded him, and now she calls to him, and he takes no notice of her; but this was not in a way of vindictive wrath and punishment, as in Proverbs 1:24; but of chastisement and correction.
(h) "verteret se", Pagninus; "circuerat", Montanus. (i) Sept. "egressa est", Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius. (k) , Sept. "in loquela ejus", Marckius.

withdrawn--He knocked when she was sleeping; for to have left her then would have ended in the death sleep; He withdraws now that she is roused, as she needs correction (Jeremiah 2:17, Jeremiah 2:19), and can appreciate and safely bear it now, which she could not then. "The strong He'll strongly try" (1-Corinthians 10:13).
when he spake--rather, "because of His speaking"; at the remembrance of His tender words (Job 29:2-3; Psalm 27:13; Psalm 142:7), or till He should speak.
no answer-- (Job 23:3-9; Job 30:20; Job 34:29; Lamentations 3:44). Weak faith receives immediate comfort (Luke 8:44, Luke 8:47-48); strong faith is tried with delay (Matthew 15:22-23).

6 I opened to my beloved;
And my beloved had withdrawn, was gone:
My soul departed when he spake -
I sought him, and found him not;
I called him, and he answered me not.
As the disciples at Emmaus, when the Lord had vanished from the midst of them, said to one another: Did not our heart burn within us when He spake with us? so Shulamith says that when he spake, i.e., sought admission to her, she was filled with alarm, and almost terrified to death.
Love-ecstasy (ἐκστῆναι, as contrast to γενέσθαι ἐν ἑαυτῷ) is not here understood, for in such a state she would have flown to meet him; but a sinking of the soul, such as is described by Terence (And. I 5. 16):
"Oratio haec me miseram exanimavit metu."
The voice of her beloved struck her heart; but in the consciousness that she had estranged herself from him, she could not openly meet him and offer empty excuses. But now she recognises it with sorrow that she had not replied to the deep impression of his loving words; and seeing him disappear without finding him, she calls after him whom she had slighted, but he answers her not. The words: "My soul departed when he spake," are the reason why she now sought him and called upon him, and they are not a supplementary remark (Zckl.); nor is there need for the correction of the text בּדברו, which should mean: (my soul departed) when he turned his back (Ewald), or, behind him (Hitz., Bttch.), from דּבר = (Arab.) dabara, tergum vertere, praeterire, - the Hebrews. has the word דּביר, the hinder part, and as it appears, דּבּר, to act from behind (treacherously) and destroy, 2-Chronicles 22:10; cf. under Genesis 34:13, but not the Kal דּבר, in that Arab. signification. The meaning of חמק has been hit upon by Aquila (ἔκλινεν), Symmachus (ἀπονεύσας), and Jerome (declinaverat); it signifies to turn aside, to take a different direction, as the Hithpa. Jeremiah 31:22 : to turn oneself away; cf. חמּוּקים, turnings, bendings, Song 7:2. חבק and אבק (cf. Genesis 32:25), Aethiop. ḥaḳafa, Amhar. aḳafa (reminding us of נקץ, Hiph. הקּיף), are usually compared; all of these, however, signify to "encompass;" but חמק does not denote a moving in a circle after something, but a half circular motion away from something; so that in the Arab. the prevailing reference to fools, aḥamḳ, does not appear to proceed from the idea of closeness, but of the oblique direction, pushed sideways. Turning himself away, he proceeded farther. In vain she sought him; she called without receiving any answer. ענני is the correct pausal form of ענני, vid., under Psalm 118:5. But something worse than even this seeking and calling in vain happened to her.

With - drawn - Denied me his comfortable presence, as a just punishment for my former neglect. Faded - Hebrews. went out of me: I fainted and was ready to die away, for those endearing expressions related, Song 5:2, which then I did not heed. I sought - By diligent enquiry and importunate prayer.