OET-RV SNG section

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

8:5 The sixth song

Yerushalem’s young women

5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning against her dearest?

The bride

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

Your mother was in labour with you there.

There she was in labour—she gave birth to you.

6 Place me like the seal on your heart,

like the seal on your arm,

because live is strong like death.

Zeal is unyielding like the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire—Yah’s flame.

7 Many waters aren’t able to quench this love

≈and rivers can’t drown it.

If a man would give all the family’s wealth in exchange for love,

he’d be utterly despised.

Bride’s older brothers

8 We have a young sister—

small and without her breasts developed.

What will we do for our sister

on the day when she is spoken for?

9 If she’s a wall,[fn] we’ll build a silver turret on her.

And if she is a door, we’ll protect her with cedar planks.

The bride

10 I was a wall and my breasts were like towers.

Then, in his eyes, I was like a person who finds peace.

11 There was a vineyard for Solomon at Baal-Hamon.

He gave the vineyard to keepers.

Each person brought a thousand silver coins in exchange for its fruit.

12 My own vineyard is right in front of me.

Those thousand coins belong to you, Shelomoh (Solomon),

and the two hundred belong to the people who are keepers of its fruit.

The groom

13 You, the one residing in the gardens:

my companions are listening intently for your voice—

let me hear it.

The bride

14 Flee, my dearest, and be like a gazelle

≈or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

8:9 Some consider these analogies to refer to her (still young) flat chest, others to a wall/door protecting her virginity.

OET-RV by section SNG 8:5

The sixth song