Song 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Song of Solomon 8 English Standard Version (ESV) 

Longing for Her Beloved

¹ Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
² I would lead you and bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
³ His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁵ Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
    leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
    there she who bore you was in labor.

⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
    jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very flame of the Lord.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his house,
    he would be utterly despised. 

Final Advice

Others

⁸ 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?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

¹⁰ I was a wall,
    and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
    as one who finds peace.

¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he let out the vineyard to keepers;
    each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
¹² My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
    and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

¹³ O you who dwell in the gardens,
    with companions listening for your voice;
    let me hear it.

She

¹⁴ Make haste, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
    on the mountains of spices. 

Solomon wrote: “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The ESV reads: “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love.” You need to be joyful with the person God has given you. 

In this last section of Song, we see the Sulamite feeling the bliss of marriage love. Notice how public she expresses her love: “If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me” (8:1a). She is proud to be the wife of her husband. She is telling the world by her body language that she loves her husband. 

O how I love to see old couples holding tightly to each other’s hands as they walk. While the sight of some young unmarried couples’ public show of affection is sometimes disgusting, the sight of an elderly couple in affectionate embrace is beautiful. It shows their love has not diminished after all these years of marriage to one another. Their love grows stronger at each passing day: “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm” (Song 8:6). The Shulamite wants her Beloved’s love towards her to be as good as a seal over his heart and on his arm. Their love is both inward (upon thine heart) and outward (upon thine arm). Married love should be like a seal, once the vow is made, it must not be altered by a change of heart. One must enter marriage with a desire that it will last forever. 

Marriage lasts only when love is strong: “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned” (Song 8:7). 

Nothing can stop love. And no amount of money can buy it. How vain is the thought of old rich men hoping to procure the affections of young women by loading them with presents and wealth! Sex can be bought but love must be given! Love does not have a price tag. A poor couple who has love is more blessed than a rich couple who doesn’t have it. 

Love cannot be bought or sold; it is not a piece of merchandise. Husbands and wives: Love one another fervently. Do not take love for granted. Never stops saying these magic words, I love you; they will keep your marriage going strong.

Jimmy Lau