Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Parallel translations
- WEB Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that plunder the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.
- BSB Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.
- NKJV Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes. The Shulamite
- NASB ¶“Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom.”
- NLT Catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love, for the grapevines are blossoming!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They call for the little foxes that spoil the blossoming vineyards to be caught. It warns against small things that can harm love.
Overview
The little foxes that ruin tender vines picture the small troubles, neglects, or sins that can spoil a flourishing relationship. The call to catch them urges vigilance over what threatens love while it is young. Likewise believers are warned that little compromises can damage fellowship with the Lord and must be guarded against (Heb. 12:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 13:32And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
- 2 Pet 2:1–3But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
- Song 7:12Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
- Ps 80:13The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
- Ezek 13:4–16O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
- Song 2:13The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
- Rev 2:2I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 2:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.