Song of Songs 8
8
Woman:
1How I wish you were like a brother to me, one who nursed at my mother's breasts! Then if I met you on the street I could kiss you and no one would tell me off. 2Then I could take you home to my mother's house, where she used to teach me.#8:2. Or “To the room of the one who bore me,” paralleling 3:4. I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranate. 3He supports my head with his left hand, and holds me close with his right. 4Women of Jerusalem, swear to me that you won't disturb our love until the right time.
Women of Jerusalem:
5Who is this coming in from the wilderness holding her love close to her?
Woman:
I woke you up under the apple tree where your mother conceived you, and where she gave birth to you.#8:5. What this means is unclear. 6Stamp my name as a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,#8:6. As an indication of ownership. for love is strong as death, passion as unyielding as the grave—its arrows flash like fire, a blazing flame of the Lord. 7Floods of water cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot submerge it. If a man offered everything he owned in order to buy love he would be completely rejected.
Woman's brothers:
8We have a younger sister whose breasts are still small. What shall we do for our sister when someone asks to marry her? 9If she is a wall, we will build a silver tower on it. But if she is a door, we will bar the way with cedar planks.#8:9. Some take the image of the wall as representing virginity, and the door as someone who is promiscuous. In any case, the woman identifies herself as a wall in the following verse, indicating faithfulness in any case.
Woman:
10I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So when he looks at me he's happy!#8:10. Literally, “Then in his eyes I am as one who brings peace.” The woman is contradicting her brothers and is saying she is mature.
Woman:#8:11. Some believe the man is speaking the following verses.
11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon which he leased to tenant farmers. Each of them paid him one thousand silver coins for the fruit it produced. 12But I own my vineyard, it is mine alone. One thousand silver coins are for you, Solomon, and two hundred for those who look after it.
Man:
13My darling, sitting there in the gardens with companions listening to you—please talk to me!
Woman:
14Come quickly, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young deer on the mountains of spices.
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Song of Songs 8: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Song of Solomon 8
8
1 [LOOKING FORWARD to the shepherd's arrival, the eager girl pictures their meeting and says] Oh, that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I should find you without, I would kiss you, yes, and none would despise me [for it]. [Ps. 143:6.]
2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would cause you to drink spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranates.
3 [Then musingly she added] Oh, that his left hand were under my head and that his right hand embraced me! [Exod. 19:4; Deut. 33:27.]
4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you never [again attempt to] stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
5 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? [And as they sighted the home of her childhood, the bride said] Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother gave you birth, there she was in travail and bore you.
6 Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead). Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame [the very flame of the Lord]! [Deut. 4:24; Isa. 49:16; I Cor. 10:22.]
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised.
8 [Gathered with her family and the wedding guests in her mother's cottage, the bride said to her stepbrothers, When I was a little girl, you said] We have a little sister and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for in marriage?
9 If she is a wall [discreet and womanly], we will build upon her a turret [a dowry] of silver; but if she is a door [bold and flirtatious], we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10 [Well] I am a wall [with battlements], and my breasts are like the towers of it. Then was I in [the king's] eyes as one [to be respected and to be allowed] to find peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; everyone was to bring him a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.
12 You, O Solomon, can have your thousand [pieces of silver], and those who tend the fruit of it two hundred; but my vineyard, which is mine [with all its radiant joy], is before me!
13 O you who dwell in the gardens, your companions have been listening to your voice–now cause me to hear it.
14 [Joyfully the radiant bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered] Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart [and take me to our waiting home] upon the mountains of spices!
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation