Song of Songs · 14 verses
Song of Songs 8
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
In the middle of love’s blazing speech sits Solomon’s vineyard lease: a thousand shekels for the fruit, with two hundred reserved for the people who tend it.
Love in the open airvv. 1–7
The beloved begins by wishing her lover were a brother—not for any fraternal sentiment, but so that a kiss outdoors would escape public disgrace. She would lead him to her mother’s house, offer spiced wine, and settle into the familiar embrace of his left hand and right arm. Then comes the solemn charge to Jerusalem’s daughters not to wake love before its time, followed by the apple tree’s extraordinary family history: conception, labour, and birth all gathered beneath one tree. Love is then fastened as a seal, fierce as death and impossible to buy, quench, or sweep away.
A sister, a wall, and a vineyard ledgervv. 8–12
The song turns briefly to a little sister whose future courtship is being considered like a small building project. If she is a wall, a silver tower will rise upon her; if a door, cedar panels will enclose her. She answers for herself: she is a wall, her breasts are towers, and in his eyes she has become one who brings peace. Then, with splendid abruptness, Solomon’s vineyard at Baal-hamon appears as a lease: tenants owe a thousand shekels for its fruit, while the speaker keeps her own vineyard and assigns Solomon his thousand and the tenders two hundred.
The last summonsvv. 13–14
The closing movement returns to gardens and listening companions. A voice asks to hear the beloved, then calls him away to move like a gazelle or young stag across the mountains of spices—a remarkably fleet departure after the accounts, towers, seals, and fiery declarations.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Song 8:1O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
Song 8:2I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.
Song 8:3His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.
Song 8:4O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.
Song 8:5Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.
Song 8:6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
Song 8:7Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.
Song 8:8We have a little sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?
Song 8:9If she is a wall, we will build a tower of silver upon her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
Song 8:10I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So I have become in his eyes like one who brings peace.
Song 8:11Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.
Song 8:12But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
Song 8:13You who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice. Let me hear it!
Song 8:14Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 212 passages were voted onto 14 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 6Revelation 12:11They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.
- 4Song of Songs 2:7O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.
- 6Isaiah 49:16Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
- 4Song of Songs 3:5O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.
- 6Philippians 1:20–23I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
- 5Song of Songs 3:6Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?
- 6Numbers 5:14and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—
- 6Haggai 2:23On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”
- 6Song of Songs 5:8O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
- 6Jeremiah 22:24“As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
- 6John 21:15–19When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”
- 7Proverbs 6:35He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.
- 6Psalms 84:2My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- 2Song of Songs 3:4I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.
- 3Song of Songs 2:6His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.
- 7Romans 13:8–10Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Onward