STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

The wondering world enquires to know The description of Christ the beloved, Cant. 5. 9-12 14 15 16

Isaac Watts printed it in 1707 in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book I, no. 75, under Song of Songs 5:9–12, 14, 15, 16.

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1707 Hymns and Spiritual Songs · no. 75

METRE

Not recorded 10 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Song of Songs 5:9–12, 14, 15, 16 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 10 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

The wondering world enquires to know

Why I should love my Jesus so:

"What are his charms," say they, "above

"The objects of a mortal love!"

No line of this stanza quotes a verse closely; it is the hymn's own confession.

Where Watts found it

Watts printed the hymn under Song of Songs 5:9–12, 14, 15, 16. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

9How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so? 10My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. 11His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. 12His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels. 14His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires. 15His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars. 16His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. SONG OF SONGS 5:9–12, 14, 15, 16 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ SONG OF SONGS 5

White is his soul, from blemish free; Red with the blood he shed for me; The fairest of ten thousand fairs: A sun amongst ten thousand stars. STANZA III

Its place in the book

Book I of the hymn book, “Collected from the Holy Scriptures”, holds these hymns in this order: 179 hymns. This is number 75. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 75 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN The wondering world enquires to know

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