Song of Solomon 8
Lexham English Bible
Maiden’s Fanciful Wish
8 How I wish that you were my little brother,[a][b]
who nursed upon my mother’s breasts![c]
If I met you outside,[d] I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me![e]
2 I would surely bring you[f][g] to the house of my mother,
who would surely teach me;[h]
I would give you spiced wine to drink,[i]
the sweet wine[j] of my pomegranates.[k]
Double Refrain: Embrace and Adjuration
3 His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces[l] me.
4 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,[m]
do not[n] arouse or awaken love until it pleases![o]
Up from the Wilderness and under the Apple Tree
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you;
there your mother conceived you;[p]
there she who was in labor gave birth to you.
The Nature of Genuine Romantic Love
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death;
passion is fierce as Sheol;
its flashes are flashes of fire;
it is a blazing flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.[q]
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,[r]
he would be utterly scorned.[s]
Maiden’s Virtuous Chastity and Voluptuous Beauty
8 We have a little sister,[t]
and she does not yet have any breasts.[u]
What should we do for our sister
on the day when she is betrothed?[v][w]
9 If she is a wall,
we will adorn her with a turret of silver;[x][y]
but if she is a door,
we will barricade her with boards of cedar.[z]
10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like the towers,
so my betrothed viewed me with great delight.[aa]
Solomon’s Vineyard and the Maiden’s Gift
11 Solomon had a vineyard[ab] at Baal-hamon;
he entrusted his vineyard to the keepers;[ac]
people paid a thousand silver pieces for its fruit.[ad]
12 My own “vineyard” belongs to me;[ae]
the “thousand” are for you, O Solomon,
and “two hundred” for those who tend its fruit.[af]
Closing Words of Mutual Love
13 O you who dwell in the garden,
my companions are listening to your voice.
Let me hear it!
14 Flee, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle[ag] or a young stag[ah]
upon the perfumed mountains![ai]
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Literally “O that he would give you like a brother to me”
- Song of Solomon 8:1 The Hebrew construction (which is somewhat misleading if rendered in a woodenly literal sense) is an idiom expressing one’s fanciful wish
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Literally “at the breast of my mother”
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Literally “I will find you in the street”
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Literally “also they would not despise me”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 Literally “I would lead you and I would bring you”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 The combination of the two verbs creates a hendiadys which may be rendered more cogently as “I would surely bring you …”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 Literally “she will teach me”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 Literally “I would give you to drink from the wine of the spice”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 Or “juice”
- Song of Solomon 8:2 The traditional Hebrew reads the singular “my pomegranate.” However, the plural reading “my pomegranates” is attested in numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts and is reflected in the ancient versions (Greek Septuagint, Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta). The latter makes the most sense in this context as a euphemistic description of the maiden’s delights
- Song of Solomon 8:3 Or “embraced”
- Song of Solomon 8:4 Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”
- Song of Solomon 8:4 Or “Why must you … before it pleases?”
- Song of Solomon 8:4 Or “Do not stir up or awaken the love until it is willing,” or “Do not disturb or interrupt our lovemaking until it is satisfied”
- Song of Solomon 8:5 Literally “was in labor with you”
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Or “and rivers cannot engulf it”
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Literally “in the love”
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Literally “they will utterly scorn him”
- Song of Solomon 8:8 Literally “a little sister for us”
- Song of Solomon 8:8 Literally “and there is no breast for her”
- Song of Solomon 8:8 Literally “on the day when it is spoken of her”
- Song of Solomon 8:8 Or “on the day when she is spoken for”
- Song of Solomon 8:9 Literally “we will build upon her a camp of silver”
- Song of Solomon 8:9 The term translated “turret” refers to the decorative parapet adorning the top of a building. This image is likely figurative for a silver tiara set upon the head
- Song of Solomon 8:9 Or “we will enclose her”
- Song of Solomon 8:10 Literally “then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace”
- Song of Solomon 8:11 Literally “A vineyard was for Solomon”
- Song of Solomon 8:11 Literally “he gave the vineyard to the keepers”
- Song of Solomon 8:11 Literally “each one brought a thousand silver pieces for his fruit”
- Song of Solomon 8:12 Literally “My vineyard that for me before my face”
- Song of Solomon 8:12 Literally “and two hundred for the keepers of his fruit”
- Song of Solomon 8:14 Literally “and be like for you to a gazelle”
- Song of Solomon 8:14 Literally “to the fawn of the stag”
- Song of Solomon 8:14 Literally “the mountains of spices”
Song of Solomon 8
Common English Bible
Wishing
[Woman]
8 If only you were as my brother—
the one who nursed at my mother’s breast.
I would find you in the street and kiss you,
and no one would shame me for it.
2 I would lead you, I would bring you
to my mother’s house;
she would teach me what to do.[a]
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
some of my fresh pomegranate juice.
3 His left arm is beneath my head,
and his right embraces me!
4 Make a solemn pledge,
daughters of Jerusalem,
never to rouse, never to arouse love
until it desires.
Love, strong and invaluable
[Daughters of Jerusalem]
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness
leaning against her lover?
[Woman]
Under the apple tree I aroused you—
there, where your mother labored with you,
there where, laboring, she bore you.
6 Set me as a seal over your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is as strong as death,
passionate love unrelenting as the grave.[b]
Its darts are darts of fire—
divine flame!
7 Rushing waters can’t quench love;
rivers can’t wash it away.
If someone gave
all his estate in exchange for love,
he would be laughed to utter shame.
[The Woman’s Brothers]
8 Our sister is small;
she has no breasts.
What will we do for our sister
on the day that she is spoken for?
9 If she is a city wall,
then we will build a turret of silver on her.[c]
And if she is a door,
then we will barricade her[d] with a panel of cedar.
[Woman]
10 I’m a city wall,
and my breasts are the towers.
So now I’m in his eyes
as one who brings peace.
[Man]
11 Solomon had a vineyard
in Baal-hamon.
He gave charge of the vineyard to keepers;
one would bring in exchange for its fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me.
You can have the thousand, Solomon[e]—
with two hundred for those who tend the fruit!
13 You who sit in the gardens,
my companions are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it!
[Woman]
14 “Take flight, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spice!”
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 8:2 Or you would teach me; LXX, Syr to my mother's house, and to the chamber of the one who conceived me (cf 3:4)
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Heb Sheol
- Song of Solomon 8:9 Or on it (the city wall)
- Song of Solomon 8:9 Or it (the door)
- Song of Solomon 8:12 Cf 1 Kgs 11:3
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