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8
Woman:
1 How 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. 2 Then I could take you home to my mother's house, where she used to teach me.* 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. 3 He supports my head with his left hand, and holds me close with his right. 4 Women of Jerusalem, swear to me that you won't disturb our love until the right time.
Women of Jerusalem:
5 Who 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.† What this means is unclear. 6 Stamp my name as a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,‡ 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. 7 Floods 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:
8 We have a younger sister whose breasts are still small. What shall we do for our sister when someone asks to marry her? 9 If 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.§ 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:
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So when he looks at me he's happy!* 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:† Some believe the man is speaking the following verses.
11 Solomon 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. 12 But 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:
13 My darling, sitting there in the gardens with companions listening to you—please talk to me!
Woman:
14 Come quickly, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young deer on the mountains of spices.

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*8:2 Or “To the room of the one who bore me,” paralleling 3:4.

†8:5 What this means is unclear.

‡8:6 As an indication of ownership.

§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.

*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.

†8:10 Some believe the man is speaking the following verses.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher