Song of Songs 8:3

Song of Songs 8:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
• New International Version (NIV)His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.
• English Standard Version (ESV)His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!
• New King James Version (NKJV)His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me.

Context of Song of Songs 8:3

1Oh, how I wish you were my little brother, nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw you outside, I could kiss you – surely no one would despise me! 2I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house, the one who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me. 4I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!” 5Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.

Song of Songs 8:3 word by word

שְׂמֹאלוֹ֙ תַּ֣חַת רֹאשִׁ֔י וִֽימִינ֖וֹ תְּחַבְּקֵֽנִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• His left handשְׂמֹאלώemô'l ώem'ôl · leftH8040
• under my headרֹאשׁrô'sh · headH7218
• and his right handיָמִיןyâmîyn · rightH3225
• should embraceחָבַקchâbaq · to embraceH2263

Commentaries on Song of Songs 8:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3His left hand - See on Song of Solomon 2:6; (note). With the fourth verse the Sixth night of the marriage week is supposed to end.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-3bring you to the house of my mother: Compare Song of Solomon 3:4.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3-43-4. The "left and right hand," &c., occurred only once actually (So 2:6), and here optatively. Only at His first manifestation did the Church palpably embrace Him; at His second coming there shall be again sensible communion with Him. The rest in So 8:4, which is a spiritual realization of the wish in So 8:3 (1Pe 1:8), and the charge not to disturb it, close the first, second, and fourth canticles; not the third, as the bridegroom there takes charge…Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Left hand
• Embrace

Commentaries on Song of Songs 8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary