Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.
Parallel Translations
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Many waters can’t quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.
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Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
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Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, he would utterly be contemned.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 8:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 6:35 He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
- Proverbs 6:31 but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.
- Romans 13:8-10 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
- Matthew 7:24-25 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.
- Romans 8:28-39 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can…
Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Ver. 7. Many waters cannot quench love.] Water was proven long since to be above fire, in that ancient contest between those two nations about the precedence and precellence of their gods, the one worshipping fire and the other water. But though there be "gods many," and "lords many," yet to the Church there is but "one Lord," and to him she will go through thick and thin, through fire and water. Her love to him is such as no good can match it, no evil overmatch it; it cannot be quenched with any calamity; nay, it is much kindled by it, as fire in the smith’s forge, or as lime that is the hotter for the water that is cast upon it. Elias would have water poured on the sacrifice (covered therewith), that the power of God might the more appear in the fire from heaven. Similarily Christ suffers the ship of his Church to be covered sometimes with waves of persecutions and afflictions, that the strength of their love to him may be the more manifested, and the "thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." {Luk 2:35} It is easy to swim in a warm bath, and every bird can sing in a summer’s day, but to swim to heaven (as Queen Elizabeth did to her throne) through a sea of sorrows, to sing (as some birds will do in the spring) most sweetly, then when it rains most sadly, that is a true trial indeed. Many will embark themselves in the Church’s cause in a calm, that, with the mariners in the Acts, will flee out of the ship in a storm. Many will own a prospering truth, a blessing ark, but he is an Obed Edom indeed that will own a persecuted, tossed, banished ark, an ark that brings the plague with it. God sets a high price on their love that stick to him in affliction, as David did on those men that were with him at Gath, those Cherethites and Pelethites that stuck to him when Absalom was up. {2Sa 15:18} And notwithstanding their recent rebellion at Ziklag, he takes them to Hebron with him (where he was to be crowned), that as they had shared with him in his misery, so they might partake of his prosperity. Lo, thus likewise deals our heavenly David with all his fellow sufferers. He removes them at length from the ashes of their forlorn Ziklag to the Hebron of heaven. And at the general judgment, in that great amphitheatre of men and angels, Christ will stand forth and say, "Ye are they that continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom," &c. {Luk 22:28-29}
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Neither can the floods drown it.] Surgit hic afflictio {Neh 1:9} This is not a vain repetition; but serves to show that no persecution, tribulation, anguish, though never so grievous - though the devil should cast out of his mouth water enough to carry us down the stream {a} {as Rev 12:15} - shall be able to separate the saints from the love of Christ. {Rom 8:35}
If a man would give all the substance of his house, &c., ] i.e., To buy this love of me, or to get it from me, I should cry out with Peter, "Thy money perish with thee," or with Luther, " Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor et furor, I care neither for Rome’s favour nor fury. When they offered to make him a cardinal if he would be quiet, he replied, No, not if I might be Pope. And when they consulted about stopping his mouth with money, one wiser than the rest cried out, Hem! Germana illa bestia non carat aurum, Alack! that German beast cares not for money. Galiacius Caracciolus, {b} that noble Italian convert, left all for the love of Christ, and went to live a poor obscure life at Geneva. Where, when he was tempted to defect for money, he cried out, Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the gold in the world worth one day’s society with Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit. And cursed be that religion for ever, that by such baits of profit, pleasure, and preferment, seeks to draw men aside from the way of truth and holiness. The Papists propose rewards to such as shall relinquish the Protestant religion and turn to theirs: as in Augsburg, where they say there is a known price for it of ten florins per year, and in France, where the clergy have made contributions for the maintenance of apostate ministers. {c} Stratagema nunc est Pontificum ditare multos ut pii esse desinant, saith one {d} that was no stranger to them: It is a cunning trick that the popes have taken up to enrich men, that they may rob them of their religion. And though Luther would not swallow that hook, yet there are those that will, not a few. Tell men a tale of utile, usefulness, promise them preferment, and you may persuade them to anything. Fac me Pontificem et ero Christianus, said one Pammachius, a heathen, once to the Pope: Make me a bishop, and I’ll turn Christian. But, as one said of Papists, that they must have two conversions ere they come to heaven - one from Popery and another from profaneness (like as grain must be first threshed and then winnowed) - so this money merchant, this preferment proselyte might have been a Christian at large, had he had his desired bishopric; but Christ never favoured any such self-seeking followers; {Mat 8:20 Joh 6:26} their love he knows to be no better than meretricious and mercenary. It is a sad thing that any Augustine should have cause to comphdn, Vix diligitur Iesus propter Iesum, that scarce any man loves Christ but for his rewards; like the mixed multitude that came up with Israel out of Egypt, for a better fortune; or those Persians that, in Mordecai’s days, for self-respect became Jews. All God’s people should be like those Medes in Isaiah that "regarded not silver, and as for gold they delighted not in it." {Isa 13:17} Christ’s love should be "better to them than wine" {Son 1:2} and when in exchange for it, the devil doth offer them this world’s good, they should answer him as the witch of Endor did Saul, "Wherefore layest thou a snare for my soul to cause me to die?" {1Sa 28:9} or, as the vine and fig tree in Jotham’s parable answered the rest of the trees, "Should I leave my fatness and sweetness," {Jdg 9:11} derived unto me from Christ, and so go out of God’s blessing into the world’s warm sun? God forbid that I should part with my patrimony, as Naboth said; take an apple for paradise, as Adam did; lose the love of Christ for the world’s blandishments, &c.
{a} ποταμαφορητον.
{b} His life, by Mr. Crashaw.
{c} Spec. Europ.
{d} Joh. Bapt. Gell., dial. 5.
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 It is the nature of love in general, and…
It is the nature of love in general, and of my love to thee, that it cannot be taken off, neither by terrors and afflictions, which are commonly signified in Scripture by waters and floods, Psa 32:6; 52:7, and elsewhere; not by temptations and allurements. Nothing but the presences and favour of the beloved person can quiet and satisy it. And therefore do not put me off with other things, but give me thyself, without whom, and in comparison of whom, I despise all other persons and things.
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 Many waters - My love to thee cannot be…
Many waters - My love to thee cannot be taken off, either by terrors and afflictions, which are commonly signified in scripture by waters and floods; or by temptations and allurements. Therefore, give me thyself, without whom, and in comparison of whom, I despise all other persons and things.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Many waters] Neither common nor uncommon adversities,…
Verse 7. Many waters] Neither common nor uncommon adversities, even of the most ruinous nature, can destroy love when it is pure; and pure love is such that nothing can procure it. If it be not excited naturally, no money can purchase it, no property can procure it, no arts can persuade it. How vain is the thought of old rich men hoping to procure the affections of young women by loading them with presents and wealth! No woman can command her affections; they are not in her power. Where they do not rise spontaneously, they can never exist. "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned." Let the old, as well as the gay and the giddy, think of this.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Drown it. As other fires may be extinguished. He…
Drown it. As other fires may be extinguished. He who sinks under persecution, has not real charity. Temptation does not weaken a person, but shews what he is, Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 9. (Calmet) --- He shall. Worldlings will ridicule his parting with temporal delights, for those which do not appear: but the true lover will make no account of the former. (Calmet)
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 7. Many waters cannot quench love — “Therefore” is…
7. Many waters cannot quench love — “Therefore” is to be supplied before “many.” It has often been observed that the lack of logical particles in Hebrew causes an appearance of independent, proverbial statement, when there is real connexion. In this respect it is even more obscure than Latin, and contrasts forcibly with Greek. For the reason that love is a flame from the Eternal, “many waters cannot quench it.” If a man, etc. — The allusion to the efforts and the failure of the King is very plain. The idea of the holy origin of love is still kept in view. It cannot be bought and sold for money, for houses and lands. Only a heart can buy a heart; and in dark, polygamous times, and in the case of such a king, it is good to see this truth, on the delicate and conscientious regard for which the happiness of the individual and the welfare of society must for ever depend, so firmly, though gently, asserted. The brothers — of whose care over the Shulamite, honest (though perhaps rigorous) mention has already been made —appear upon the scene in anxious discussion, to which their sister listens. One says to the other: —
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 7. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the…
7. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it] Better, neither can rivers drown it. The word translated drown may also mean sweep away (cp. Isa_28:17): but as love has just been compared to a fire, and the waters in the first clause are said not to be able to quench it, it seems necessary to give to the verb in this clause the similar meaning of drown which it also has. Cp. Psa_69:2. All this she has felt, and she beseeches her lover never to let her go, since otherwise she would be utterly forlorn and given up to the fury of unrelenting jealousy. In these verses we have the climax of the book. Even Budde says Son_8:6-7 undoubtedly contain the deepest thing said of love in the book. The sensuous aspect of love falls entirely into the background, the whole nature is irresistibly seized and indissolubly bound to the beloved one. But that is not enough. It is towards this declaration that the author has been making from the first. Consequently this ethical conception of love should be regarded as underlying all that goes before, and the book thought of as a unity. The writer of these words must have had an ideal of love, with which the coarseness, inevitably found even in the most simple and deeply felt descriptions of natural scenery by those who regard the book as a collection of professional laudations of the more sensuous side of marriage, is totally incompatible. And this ideal must have been an elevating influence of very great importance for the moral life of a people among whom marriage was a mere matter of contract, and the price given for the bride a subject of pride, as it still is among Orientals. Immediately and inevitably this statement of the nature of love leads on to a condemnation of the common point of view in an arrow-like phrase, which having first transfixed the gorgeous and voluptuous Solomon, goes straight to the heart of the ordinary practice of the time.
if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned] Better, he would be utterly despised. Literally, the words are ‘men would utterly despise him,’ or, ‘it.’ In this Budde sees only an ordinary commonplace of popular poetry. But surely its connexion with the previous verses raises it far above that level. It is the practical application of the deepest thing said in the book. But in any case it could not have been a commonplace at marriages such as have been described. To sing words like these at an ordinary Oriental wedding would have been little short of unseemly.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) It would utterly be contemned.—Better, he would be,…
(7) It would utterly be contemned.—Better, he would be, &c, and literally, to despise, they would despise him; infinitive absolute before finite verb expressing intensity. (Comp. 1Sa_20:6; Amo_9:8, &c)
This fine passage, with its reference to the invincible might and untempted constancy of true love, hardly leaves a doubt that the poem, while an ideal picture of the passion, is also a reminiscence of an actual history of two hearts that had been tried and proved true both against difficulties and seductions.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain If a man would give all the substance of…
Son_8:7
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
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Unpurchasable love
That is a general truth, applying to all forms of real love; you cannot purchase love. Who, for instance, could purchase a mother s love? Take, again, even the love of friends; I only instance that just to show how true our text is in relation to all forms of love. Damon loved Pythias; the two friends were so bound together that their names became household words, and their conduct towards one another grew into a proverb. Yet Damon never purchased the heart of Pythias, neither did Pythias think to pay a yearly stipend for the love of Damon. No; if a man should give all the substance of his house even for human love, for the common love that exists between man and man, it would utterly be contemned. Rest assured that this is pre-eminently true when we get into higher regions, when we come to think of the love of Jesus, and when we think of that love which springs up in the human breast towards Jesus when the Spirit of God has renewed the heart and shed abroad the love of God within the soul. If a man should offer to give all the substance of his house for either of these forms of love, it would utterly be contemned.
I. We will begin at the highest manifestation of love, and commune together upon it. So let me say, first, that The Love Of Our Lord Jesus Christ Is Altogether Unpurchasable. This fact will be clear to us if we give it a moments careful thought. It must be quite impossible to purchase the love of Christ, because it is inconceivable that He ever could be mercenary. The pure stream of His love leaps like the crystal rill, and there is no sediment that can be found in it; it is altogether unmixed love to us. Besides, there is another point that renders this idea of purchasing Christs love as impossible as the first thought shows it to be incredible; for all things are already Christs. Therefore, what can be given to Him wherewith His love could be purchased? Let us also note that, if Christs love could be won by us by some thing we could bring to Him or do for Him, it would suppose that there was something of ours that was of equal merit and of equal value with His love, or, at any rate, something which He was willing to accept as bearing some proportion to His love. But, indeed, there is nothing of the sort. But what a blessing it is that we have the love of Christ, though we could not purchase it! The Son of God hath loved us; He has bestowed upon us what He never would have sold us; and He has given to us freely, without money and without price. The greatest wonder to me is that this unpurchasable love, this unending love is mine; and you can always say, each one of you, if you have been regenerated, This love is mine; the Lord Jesus Christ loves me with a love I never could have purchased. Peradventure, some one is saying just now, I wish I could say that. Do you really wish it? Then, let the text serve to guide you as to the way by which you may yet know Christs love to you. Do not try to purchase it, abandon that idea at once. But surely, surely we may do something. We will give up this vice, we will renounce that bad habit, we will be strict in our religiousness, we will be attentive to all moral duties. So you should; but when you have done all that, do you think you have done enough to win His love? Is the servant who has only done what he ought to have done entitled to the love of his masters heart because of that? Thou shalt not win Christs love so; if thou hast His love shed abroad in thy heart, thou hast infinitely more than thou hast ever earned.
II. In our case, nothing can ever serve as a substitute for love. If Christ has loved us, or if we are desirous of realizing that He has done so, the one thing needful and essential is that we have true love to Him. Gods demand of each one who professes to be His child is, My son, give me thine heart. Love He must have; this is His lawful demand. His people delight to render it; if thou dost not, then thou art none of His.
III. The saints love is not purchased by Christs gifts. The love of saints to their Lord is not given to Christ because of His gifts to them. We love our Lord, and we love Him all the more because of the many gifts He bestows upon us; but His gifts do not win our love. Oh, it is Jesus Christ Himself who wins the love of our hearts! If He had not given us Himself, we should never have given to Him ourselves. All else that may be supposed to be of the substance of His house would not have won His people s hearts, until at last they learnt this truth, and the Spirit of God made them feel the force of it, He loved me, and gave Himself for me. My beloved is mine, and I am His, is now one of the sweetest stanzas in loves canticle. The spouse does not say His crown is mine, His throne is mine, His breastplate is mine, His crook is mine; she delights in everything that Christ has as a King, and a Priest, and a Shepherd; but, above all else, that which wins and charms her heart is this, He Himself is mine, and I am His. But I meant mainly to say, under this head, that there are some of Christs gifts that do not win our hearts, that is to say, our hearts do not depend upon them. And they are, first, His temporal gifts. I am very thankful, and I trust that all Gods people are also, for health and strength. I have lost these sometimes, but I did not love my Lord any the less then; neither do I love Christ this day because I am free from pain. If I were not free from pain, I would still love Him. I meant also to say that we do not love Christ because of His temporary indulgence of us in spiritual things. You know our Saviour very frequently favours us with manifestations of His presence. We are overjoyed when He comes very near to us, and permits us to put our fingers into the prints of the nails. He takes all the clouds out of our sky, and gives us the bright shining of the sun; or He opens the lattices, and shows us Himself in a way only second to that in which we shall see Him when we behold Him face to face. And oh, how we love Him then! But, thank God, when He draws the lattice back again, and hides His face, we do not leave off loving Him because of that. Our love to our Lord does not depend upon the weather. Even if we should be called to pass through terrible trials and adversities, and should have to walk a long time in clouds and darkness, yet still would we love Him and rejoice in Him.
IV. The love of saints cannot be bought off from Christ at any price. The saints sell Christ? No, they are too much like their Master to do that. You recollect how Satan took their Master to the top of a high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Wicked thief! It was not his to give yet he tempted Christ in that way, but Jesus answered, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. If any of Christs followers are tempted in the same fashion, let them give the same reply. All the substance of the devils house could not win the love of that man who has set his affection on Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The young woman continues to speak to the man.
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Surging waters cannot quench love
Love is so strong that it is like a fire that is so hot that it cannot be put out even with an ocean full of water. (See: Metaphor)
Surging waters
"Oceans of water" or "Huge amounts of water"
cannot quench
"cannot extinguish" or "cannot put out"
nor can floods sweep it away
Love never changes and always stays the same so it is like something that not even a powerful flood can move. (See: Metaphor)
floods
In Israel, water from the rain flows into deep and narrow valleys. This creates a flood of water so powerful that it can move huge boulders and trees.
sweep it away
"carry it away" or "wash it away"
If a man gave ... the offer would utterly be despised
This is something that could possibly happen. AT: "Even if a man ... he would be utterly despised" (See: Hypothetical Situations)
gave
offered to give
all the possessions in his house
"everything he owns"
for love
"in order to get love" or "in order to buy love"
the offer would utterly be despised
This can be translated in active form. AT: "people would completely despise him" or "people would harshly ridicule him" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
love
flood
possess
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.