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Song of Solomon 8

The book's close gathers its loose threads. The woman wishes her lover were like a brother so she could kiss him openly; the warning not to awaken love before it desires returns a third time; and the brothers from chapter 1 reappear, debating what to do with a little sister who "has no breasts." The pivot is verses 6-7, the book's nearest thing to a thesis: love sealed on heart and arm, strong as death, a flame that floods cannot drown and money cannot buy.

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Song of Solomon 8 (WEB)
  1. 1

    Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.

  2. 2

    I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.

  3. 3

    His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me.

  4. 4

    I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. Friends

  5. 5

    Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Beloved Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.

  6. 6

    Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD.

  7. 7

    Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. Brothers

  8. 8

    We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?

  9. 9

    If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. Beloved

  10. 10

    I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

  11. 11

    Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

  12. 12

    My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon, two hundred for those who tend its fruit. Lover

  13. 13

    You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! Beloved

  14. 14

    Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!

Wall, door, and vineyard

The brothers ask whether their sister is a wall or a door (v.8-9); she answers "I am a wall" (v.10) — claiming her own settled maturity rather than waiting to be guarded or built upon.

The vineyard closes the loop too. In 1:6 she could not keep her own vineyard; here Solomon's leased vineyard at Baal Hamon is contrasted with "my own vineyard before me" (v.12) — she now keeps it, and assigns its worth herself.

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