New Living Translation
Song of Songs 8:4
4Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right.
Song of Songs 8:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
- New International Version (NIV)Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
- English Standard Version (ESV)I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
- New King James Version (NKJV)I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases.
Context of Song of Songs 8:4
2I would bring you to my childhood home, and there you would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, my sweet pomegranate wine. 3Your left arm would be under my head, and your right arm would embrace me. Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right. 5Who is this sweeping in from the desert, leaning on her lover? I aroused you under the apple tree, where your mother gave you birth, where in great pain she delivered you. 6Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.
Read all of Song of Songs 8Song of Songs 8:4 word by word
הִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֖ם בְּנ֣וֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם מַה־תָּעִ֧ירוּ׀ וּֽמַה־תְּעֹֽרְר֛וּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָ֖ה עַ֥ד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּֽץ׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Commentaries on Song of Songs 8:4
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4I adjure you: For the third time, the woman urges the young women of Jerusalem to keep their virginity (see Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5). The importance of virginity is affirmed in Song of Solomon 8:8–9.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
- Rashi on Tanakh · v. 4I adjure you Now the congregation of Israel addresses the nations, “Even though I complain and lament, my Beloved holds on to my hand, and He is my support in my exile; therefore, I adjure you.”Read the comment
In the dictionaries
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries