Song of Solomon 8

World English Bible 84 include this book

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

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

5 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?

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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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2 places named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Jerusalem disputed Associated with Solomon's court; the setting is literary rather than documentary.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 970 BC–931 BC Solomon
Ascribed to Solomon by the text's own superscription.
Critical: 450 BC–200 BC Anonymous
Language and vocabulary, including Persian and possibly Greek influence, point to a much later composition.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (970 BC–200 BC).

1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.
1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
1050 BC–800 BC The Phoenician alphabet spreads Levant
A compact consonantal alphabet that became the ancestor of Greek, Latin and Hebrew scripts.
776 BC First recorded Olympiad Greece
The traditional starting point of Greek historical chronology.
753 BC Traditional founding of Rome Rome
The legendary date of Rome's founding, later used as the anchor of the Roman calendar.
745 BC–609 BC Neo-Assyrian empire at its height Mesopotamia
Assyria dominated the Near East, deporting conquered populations as policy, including the northern kingdom of Israel.
620 BC–560 BC Coinage invented in Lydia Anatolia
Stamped electrum coins of guaranteed weight, an idea that spread across the ancient world within a century.

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