“Swear to me, you daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, As to what you will tell him: For I am lovesick.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
- KJV I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
- BSB O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
- NKJV I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him I am lovesick! The Daughters of Jerusalem
- NLT Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem— If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.
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
She charges the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved she is faint with love. It expresses her consuming longing for him.
Overview
Enlisting others' help, she asks that they tell her beloved she is sick with love for him. Her single-minded yearning persists despite her suffering. Such love-sickness pictures the soul wholly given to longing for the Lord, unsatisfied with anything less than His presence (Ps. 42:1-2; 73:25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Song 2:7I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song 2:5Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love.
- Ps 42:1–3For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
- Song 3:5I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Gal 6:1–2Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- Ps 63:1–3A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
- Ps 77:1–3For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by Asaph. My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me.
- Rom 15:30Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,
- Ps 119:81–83My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
- Jas 5:16Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
- Song 8:4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
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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 5:8 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
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