I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
Parallel Translations
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I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
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I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
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'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, what will ye tell him? that I am love-sick.'
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 5:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 2:5 Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love.
- Song of Solomon 2:7 I 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.
- Psalms 42:1-3 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Song of Solomon 3:5 I 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.
- Psalms 63:1-3 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. So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
- Psalms 77:1-3 My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed.
- Psalms 119:81-83 My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word. My eyes fail for your word. I say, “When will you comfort me?” For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke. I don’t forget your statutes.
- Romans 15:30 Now 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,
- Galatians 6:1-2 Brothers, 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. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
- Song of Solomon 8:4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- James 5:16 Confess 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.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain She asketh of them which are godly (forasmuch as…
She asketh of them which are godly (forasmuch as the law and salvation should come out of Zion and Jerusalem) that they would direct her to Christ.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,…
Son 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I [am] sick of love.
Ver. 8. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem.] Being evil entreated by her enemies, she turns her to her friends, those damsels or daughters of Jerusalem. See Son 2:7; Son 3:5. So the Lord Christ, being tired out with the untractableness of his untoward hearers, turns him to his Father. {Mat 11:25-26} Kings, as they have their cares and cumbers above other men, so they had of old their friends, by a specialty, as Hushai was David’s friend, {2Sa 15:37} to whom they might ease themselves, and "take sweet counsel." {Psa 55:14} The servants of God are "princes in all lands"; {Psa 45:16} and as they have their crosses not a few, so their comforts, in and by the communion of saints. The very opening of their grievances one to another doth many times ease them, as the very opening of a vein cools the blood. Their mutual prayers one with and for another prevail much, if they be fervent, or thorough well wrought, {a} as in this case they likely will be; for as "iron whets iron, so doth the face of a man his friend." {Pro 27:17} And as ferrum potest quod aurum non potest, iron can do what sometimes gold cannot do - an iron key may open a chest wherein gold is laid up - so a meaner man’s prayer may be more effectual sometimes than a better man’s for himself. His own key may be rusty, or out of order, and another man’s do it better. Hence the Church is so importunate with the daughters of Jerusalem - who were far behind her in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as appears by that which follows - to commend her and her misery to Christ, to tell him, wherever they meet with him, "Behold, she whom thou lovest is sick," thy Church - in whom thy love is concentrated, as it were, and gathered to a head - doth even languish with love, and is in ill case. "Tell him," saith she. "What shall ye tell him?" as the Hebrew hath it. An earnest and passionate kind of speech, somewhat like that in Hosea, "Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them?" {Hos 9:14} as if she should say, Would you know what you should tell him even that which followeth, that "I am sick of love." See Son 2:5.
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{a} ενεργουμενη. {Jas 5:16}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Daughters of Jerusalem; of whom See Poole "Son 1:5",…
Daughters of Jerusalem; of whom See Poole "Son 1:5", See Poole "Son 2:7". The church having passed the watchmen, and patiently borne, and in a manner forgotten, their injuries, proceeds in the pursuit of her Beloved, and inquires of every particular believer or professor whom she meets concerning him.
That I am sick of love; that I am ready to faint for want of his presence, and the tokens of his favour. Use all your interest and importunity with him on my behalf.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain O daughters - The church having passed the watchmen,…
O daughters - The church having passed the watchmen, proceeds in the pursuit of her beloved, and inquires of every particular believer whom she meets concerning him. Tell him - That I am ready to faint for want of his presence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. I am sick of love.] "I am…
Verse 8. I am sick of love.] "I am exceedingly concerned for his absence; and am distressed on account of my thoughtless carriage towards him." The latter clause may be well translated, "What should ye tell him?" Why, "that I am sick of love." This ends the transactions of the third day and night.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Son 5:8-9. I charge you, O daughters, &c. —…
Son 5:8-9. I charge you, O daughters, &c. — The church having passed the watchmen, proceeds in the pursuit of her beloved, and inquires of every particular believer, whom she meets, concerning him. Tell him, that I am sick, &c. — That I am ready to faint for want of his presence. What is thy beloved, &c., more than another — Wherein doth he excel them?
Believers might ask this, that they might be more fully informed of it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The bride, now awake, is seeking her beloved. The…
The bride, now awake, is seeking her beloved. The dream of his departure and her feelings under it have symbolized a real emotion of her waking heart.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Love. She seems insensible to the insults received. (Calmet)…
Love. She seems insensible to the insults received. (Calmet) --- The Church prays to the saints on earth, and in heaven. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. Wayward as her dream had been, in her…
8. Wayward as her dream had been, in her waking hours she was true. Of this she assures the ladies.
That ye tell him — Better, What will ye tell him? A question abruptly inserted to give force to the thought.
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Sick of love — That is, utterly enthralled by it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. I charge you] Better, I adjure you, if…
8. I charge you] Better, I adjure you, if ye find my beloved, what shall ye say unto him? That I am sick of love. The connexion here is difficult. The Shulammite’s loss was only in a dream, and how can the author represent her as carrying over her dream loss into real life? The answer made by some is, that this verse and the next contain matter which was inserted only to introduce the description of the Shulammite’s beloved. But even if that were the case we should still look for some rational and intelligible transition. That can be got only if we conceive of the dream being related by the Shulammite while she is still not quite awake. She is represented as not distinguishing between her dreams and reality.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye…
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. This appeal to the ladies suggests that the bride is speaking from her place in the royal palace; but it may be taken otherwise, as a poetical transference of time and place, from the place where the dream actually occurred, to Jerusalem. It is difficult, in a poem of such a kind, to explain every turn of language objectively. We cannot, however, be far wrong if we say the bride is rejoicing, in the presence of her attendant ladies, in the love of Solomon. He has just left her, and she takes the opportunity of relating the dream, that she may say how she cannot bear his absence and how she adores him. The ladies enter at once into the pleasant scheme of her fancy, and assume that they are with her in the country place, and ready to help her to find her shepherd lover, who has turned away from her when she did not at once respond to his call. The daughters of Jerusalem will, of course, symbolically represent those who, by their sympathy and by their similar relation to the object of our love, are ready to help us to rejoice our fellow believers.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye…
Son_5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell Him, that I am sick of love.
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Heavenly love-sickness
Sick! that is a sad thing; it moves your pity. Sick of love--love-sick! that stirs up other emotions which we shall presently attempt to explain. There is a twofold love-sickness. Of the one kind is that love-sickness which comes upon the Christian when he is transported with the full enjoyment of Jesus, even as the bride, elated by the favour, melted by the tenderness of her Lord, says in the fifth verse of the second chapter of the Song, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. Another kind of love-sickness, widely different from the first, is that in which the soul is sick, not because it has too much of Christs love, but because it has not enough present consciousness of it; sick, not of the enjoyment, but of the longing for it; sick, not because of the excess of delight, but because of sorrow for an absent lover.
I. First, consider our text as the language of a soul longing for the view of Jesus Christ in grace.
1. Do ye ask me concerning the sickness itself: what is it? It is the.sickness of a soul punting after communion with Christ. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for, mark you, when they are not near to Christ, they lose their peace. The nearer to Jesus, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; and the further from Jesus, the nearer to that troubled sea which images the continual unrest of the wicked. The heart when near to Jesus has strong pulsations, for, since Jesus is in that heart, it is full of life, of vigour, and of strength. Peace, liveliness, vigour--all depend upon the constant enjoyment of communion with Christ Jesus. The soul of a Christian never knows what joy means in its true solidity, except when she sits like Mary at Jesus feet. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What the turtle is to her mate, what the husband is to his spouse, what the head is to the body, such is Jesus Christ to us; and therefore, if we have Him not, nay, if we are not conscious of having Him; if we are not one with Him, nay, if we are not consciously one with Him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell Him, that I am sick of love. Such is the character of this love-sickness. We may say of it, however, that it is a sickness which has a blessing attending it: Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One--after Him who in the highest perfection embodies pure, immaculate, spotless righteousness. Blessed is that hunger, for it comes from God. Yet it is a sickness which, despite the blessing, causes much pain. The man who is sick after Jesus will be dissatisfied with everything else; he will find that dainties have lost their sweetness, and music its melody, and light its brightness, and life itself will be darkened with the shadow of death to him, till he finds his Lord, and can rejoice in Him. Ye shall find that this thirsting, this sickness, if it ever gets hold upon you, is attended with great vehemence. As lovers sometimes talk of doing impossibilities for their fair ones, so certainly a spirit that is set on Christ will laugh at impossibility, and say, It shall be done It will venture upon the hardest task, go cheerfully to prison and joyfully to death, if it may but find its beloved, and have its love-sickness satisfied with His presence.
2. What maketh a man s soul so sick after Christ? Understand that it is the absence of Christ which makes this sickness in a mind that really understands the preciousness of His presence. The spouse had been very wilful and wayward; she had taken off her garments, had gone to her rest, her sluggish, slothful rest, when her Beloved knocked at the door. Mingled with the sense of absence is a consciousness of wrong-doing. Something in her seemed to say, How couldst thou drive Him away? That heavenly Bridegroom who knocked and pleaded hard, how couldst thou keep Him longer there amidst the cold dews of night? O unkind heart I what if thy feet had been made to bleed by thy rising? What if all thy body had been chilled by the cold wind, when thou wast treading the floor? What had it been compared with His love to thee? So, too, mixed with this, was great wretchedness because He was gone. She had been for a little time easy in His absence. That downy bed, that warm coverlet, had given her a peace--a false, cruel, and a wicked peace--but she has risen now, the watchmen have smitten her, her veil is gone, and, without a friend, the princess, deserted in the midst of Jerusalems streets, has her soul melted for heaviness, and she pours out her heart within her as she pineth after her Lord. To gather up the causes of this love sickness in a few words, does not the whole matter spring from relationship? She is His spouse; can the spouse be happy without her beloved Lord? It springs from union; she is part of Himself. Can the hand be happy and healthy if the life-floods stream not from the heart and from the head? Fondly realizing her dependence, she feels that she owes all to Him, and gets her all from Him. If, then, the fountain be cut off, if the streams be dried, if the great source of all be taken from her, how can she but be sick? And there is besides this a life and a nature in her which makes her sick. There is a life like the life of Christ, nay, her life is in Christ, it is hid with Christ in God; her nature is a part of the Divine nature; she is a partaker of the Divine nature. Moreover she is in union with Jesus, and this piece, divided, as it were, from the body, wriggles, like a worm cut asunder, and pants to get back to where it came from.
3. What endeavours such love-sick souls will put forth. Those who are sick for Christ will first send their desires to Him. Go, go, sweet doves, with swift and clipping wings, and tell Him, I am sick of love. Then she would send her prayers. She is afraid they will never reach Him, for her bow is slack, and she knoweth not how to draw it with her feeble hands which hang down. So what does she? She has traversed the streets; she has used the means; she has done everything; she has sighed her heart out, and emptied her soul out in prayers. She is all wounds till He heals her; she is all a hungry mouth till He fills her; she is all an empty brook till He replenishes her once again, and so now she goeth to her companions, and she saith, If ye find my Beloved, tell Him, I am sick of love. This is using the intercession of the saints. But after all, how much better it would have been for her to tell Him herself. But, you say, she could not find Him. Nay, but if she had faith she would have known that her prayers could; for our prayers know where Christ is when we do not know, or rather, Christ knows where our prayers are, and when we cannot see Him they reach Him nevertheless.
4. Blessed love-sickness! we have seen its character and its cause, and the endeavours of the soul under it; let us just notice the comforts which belong to such a state as this. Briefly they are these--you shall be filled. It is impossible for Christ to sat you longing after Him without intending to give Himself to you. He makes you long: He will certainly satisfy your longings. Remember, again, that He will give you Himself all the sooner for the bitterness of your longings. The more pained your heart is at His absence the shorter will the absence be. Then, again, when He does come, as come He will, oh, how sweet it will be!
II. This love-sickness may be seen in a soul longing for a view of Jesus in His glory.
1. And here we will consider the complaint itself for a moment. This ailment is not merely a longing after communion with Christ on earth--that has been enjoyed, and generally this sickness follows that. It is the enjoyment of Esheols first-fruits which makes us desire to sit under our own vine and our own fig tree before the throne of God in the blessed land. This sickness is characterized by certain marked symptoms; I will tell you what they are. There is a loving and a longing, a loathing and a languishing. As the needle once magnetized will never be easy until it finds the pole, so the heart once Christianized never will be satisfied until it rests on Christ--rests on Him, too, in the fulness of the beatific vision before the throne.
2. As to its object--what is that? Tell Him, that I am sick of love; but what is the sickness for? When you and I want to go to heaven I hope it is the true love-sickness. The soul may be as sick as it will, without rebuke, when it is sick to be with Jesus. You may indulge this, carry it to its utmost extent without either sin or folly. What am I sick with love for? For the pearly gates?--No; but for the pearls that are in His wounds. What am I sick for? For the streets of gold?--No; but for His head, which is as much fine gold. For the melody of the harps and angelic songs?--No but for the melodious notes that come from His dear mouth. What am I sick for? For the nectar that angels drink?--No; but for the kisses of His lips. For the manna on which heavenly souls do feed?--No; but for Himself, who is the meat and drink of His saints; Himself, Himself--my soul pines to see Him.
3. Ask ye, yet again, what are the excitements of this sickness. What is it makes the Christian rang to be at home with Jesus? I do believe that all the bitters and all the sweets make a Christian, when he is in a healthy state, sick after Christ: the sweets make his mouth water for more sweets, and the bitters make him pant for the time when the last dregs of bitterness shall be over. Wearying temptations, as well as rapt enjoyments, all set the spirit on the wing after Jesus.
4. Well now, what is the cure of this love-sickness? Is it a sickness for which there is any specific remedy? There are some palliatives, and I will recommend them to you. Such, for example, is a strong faith that realizes the day of the Lord and the presence of Christ, as Moses beheld the promised land and the goodly heritage, when he stood on the top of Pisgah. If you do not get heaven when you want it, you may attain to that which is next door to heaven, and this may bear you up for a little season, if you cannot get to behold Christ face to face, it is a blessed make-shift for the time to see Him in the Scriptures, and to look at Him through the glass of the Word. These are palliatives, but I warn ye, I warn ye of them. I do not mean to keep you from them, use them as much as ever you can, but I warn you from expecting that it will cure that love-sickness. It will give you ease, but it will make you more sick still, for he that lives on Christ gets more hungry after Christ. But there is a cure, there is a cure and you shall have it soon--a black draught, and in it a pearl: a black draught called Death. Ye shall drink it, but ye shall not know it is bitter, for ye shall swallow it up in victory. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain I charge you,
THE CHARGE
Son_5:8
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I charge you,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem;
If ye find my beloved,
That ye tell him that I am sick of love.
Shulamite probably still relates her dream. Receiving stripes instead of sympathy from the watchmen, she addressed herself to the women of the city. Such incongruities natural in a dream. The language that of—
1. Intense concern: ‘I charge you,’ &c. A kind of adjuration, as in chap. Son_2:7; Son_3:5; Son_8:4; indicative of the unity of the poem. Observe—
(1) The soul seeking a missing Saviour, glad to find sympathy and obtain help wherever it can. Necessity neglects no means.
(2) Sad to find private Christians more sympathizing and helpful to exercised souls than the ministers of the Word.
(3) Backsliding makes a believer an inquirer when he ought to have been a teacher. Guilt seals a believer’s lips, which only a renewed sense of pardon can open (Psa_51:12-15).
(4) In darkness and desertion, others supposed to know better how and where to find Christ, and to have more access to Him, than the soul who is seeking Him.
(5) Young believers sometimes found to have nearer access to Christ, and more sensible communion with Him, than those of greater experience. The strongest believers sometimes in a condition to be assisted by the weakest (Rom_1:12). Times when the believer feels unable directly to address himself as usual to the Saviour. Power to pray not always present with the desire to pray.
(6) The duty and privilege of earnest seekers of Jesus to request the prayers and assistance of others. Pride often the hindrance to the anxious soul obtaining peace.
(7) Communion with Christians often the best way of finding a missing Christ. Believers to be able and ready to help others to find the Saviour.
2. Shulamite’s language indicative of confusion and distraction. ‘If ye find my beloved, that ye tell him,’ &c.; literally: ‘What shall ye tell him? that I am sick of love.’ Hardly knows what she wants, and what message to send, or how to express her feelings. A state of great perturbation and perplexity natural to a soul seeking a loved but offended and missing Saviour. Shulamite’s present case realized in Mary weeping beside the empty tomb, and addressing Jesus Himself as if He were the gardener: ‘Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away’ (Joh_20:14-15). Neither knowing to whom she spoke, nor what she said. Her soul absorbed with one thought, and not even naming the object of her search.
3. Her language that of ardent affection. ‘Tell him that I am sick of love.’ Formerly said in the enjoyment of Christ’s presence; now in distress for His absence (chap. Son_2:5). Love to Christ not dependent on present enjoyment, or confined to happy frames. Pursues Him when absent, as well as rejoices in Him when present. Observe, in reference to
Love-sickness for Christ,
That it is—
1. Natural and reasonable. This true, whether the sickness arise from the overpowering enjoyment of Christ’s presence, as in chap. Son_2:5; or, as here, from the painful sense of His absence. No reason in nature why love-sickness should exist in reference to an imperfect creature, and not to the all-perfect Creator, who has, at the same time in His love to me, become my Brother. Natural that the more excellent, lovely, and loving the object of our love, the more intense and ardent that love should be. Love due from an intelligent creature to the infinitely excellent Creator. That love not to be a cold and languid, lukewarm and formal love; but one ardent and intense—with all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mind—with all the affection which He has Himself implanted in our nature, and of which He is infinitely worthy (Rev_3:15-16). The claims of a Creator upon our most ardent love unspeakably enhanced by those of a Redeemer. An evidence how far sin has blinded the mind, depraved the heart, and deadened the soul, that love-sickness for Christ is not as extensively experienced as the Bible is read and the Gospel preached. If the Creator, who is love and excellence itself, humbling Himself, in love, for the deliverance and happiness of His creatures, so as to assume those creatures’ nature, and in that nature to be bound and spit upon, scourged and crucified—is not ardently loved by those who profess to believe they have been the objects of suck love, the only reason must be that what the Bible declares about man’s heart is true, that it is ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.’ The day will declare what every truly awakened and enlightened soul even now sees to be true, that it is man’s sin and shame that a creature should be loved with greater warmth, and longed for with greater intensity, than the Creator who died for them; and that the sentence pronounced by the inspired Apostle, and recorded in the Bible, is just: ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed’ (1Co_16:22).
2. Blessed and desirable. A love sickness according to truth and righteousness, and sure to obtain its end. A pain which those who feel it would not exchange, even for a moment, for all the pleasures of the world and sin during a lifetime. Ask Mary weeping at the empty grave, and the woman of the city washing the Saviour’s feet with her tears. Love-sickness for Christ one of the evidences of spiritual health. Good to carry such sickness with us to the grave. Death only welcome and agreeable to those who love and long for Christ. Paul’s experience: ‘I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Death necessarily gain to the lovers of Christ, as it brings them to the sight and presence of Him ‘whom having not seen they loved’ (1Pe_1:8; 1Jn_3:2). One of the strongest proofs of Christ’s love to a soul is to make that soul sick of love for Himself. The prayer of Dr. Chalmers that of true enlightenment: ‘O God, spiritualize my affections: Give me an ardent love to Christ.’
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I want you to swear
I want you to swear
See how you translated this in Song of Songs 2:7.
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daughters of Jerusalem
"young women of Jerusalem." These young women could not hear her and were not present, but the woman speaks as if they were present and could hear her. See how you translated this in Song of Songs 2:7. (See: Apostrophe)
my beloved
This phrase refers to the man whom the woman loves. In some languages it may be more natural for her to refer to him as "my lover." See how you translated this in Song of Songs 1:13. AT: "my dear one" or "my lover"
my beloved—What will you make known to him?—that I am
The woman uses a question to introduce what she wants the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved. AT: "my beloved, this is what I want you to say to him: tell him that" (See: Rhetorical Question)
sick from love
She loves the man so strongly that she feels sick. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Jerusalem
beloved
love
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:8-9 The woman enlists the young women of Jerusalem…
5:8-9 The woman enlists the young women of Jerusalem to help her find her lover. They ask her to describe him, and this leads into the second descriptive poem (wasf) of the Song (see study note on 4:1–5:1).
5:8 I am weak with love: The woman’s trauma is an image for her lovesickness (cp. 2:5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.