Song of Solomon 8:1
New International Version
If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

New Living Translation
Oh, I wish you were my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts. Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching, and no one would criticize me.

English Standard Version
Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

Berean Standard Bible
O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

King James Bible
O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

New King James Version
Oh, that you were like my brother, Who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised.

New American Standard Bible
“Oh that you were like a brother to me Who nursed at my mother’s breasts. If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you; No one would despise me, either.

NASB 1995
“Oh that you were like a brother to me Who nursed at my mother’s breasts. If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you; No one would despise me, either.

NASB 1977
“Oh that you were like a brother to me Who nursed at my mother’s breasts. If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you; No one would despise me, either.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Oh that you were like a brother to me Who nursed at my mother’s breasts. If I found you outside, I would kiss you; No one would despise me, either.

Amplified Bible
“Oh, that you were like a brother to me, Who nursed at the breasts of my mother. If I found you out of doors, I would kiss you; No one would blame me or despise me, either.

Christian Standard Bible
If only I could treat you like my brother, one who nursed at my mother’s breasts, I would find you in public and kiss you, and no one would scorn me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
If only I could treat you like my brother, one who nursed at my mother’s breasts, I would find you in public and kiss you, and no one would scorn me.

American Standard Version
Oh that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; Yea, and none would despise me.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Who shall give you as a brother to me? My breasts nursed my lambs. I will find you in the street. I will kiss you and they will not despise me

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I would that thou, O my kinsman, wert he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, they should not despise me.

Contemporary English Version
If you were my brother, I could kiss you whenever we happen to meet, and no one would say I did wrong.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me?

English Revised Version
Oh that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, and none would despise me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
If only you were my brother, one who nursed at my mother's breasts. If I saw you on the street, I would kiss you, and no one would look down on me.

Good News Translation
I wish that you were my brother, that my mother had nursed you at her breast. Then, if I met you in the street, I could kiss you and no one would mind.

International Standard Version
If only you were like a brother to me, like one who nursed at my mother's breasts. If I found you outside I would kiss you, and no one would view me with contempt.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Oh that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; Yea, and none would despise me.

Literal Standard Version
Who makes you as a brother to me, | Suckling the breasts of my mother? I find you outside, I kiss you, | Indeed, they do not despise me,

Majority Standard Bible
O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

New American Bible
Would that you were a brother to me, nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I met you out of doors, I would kiss you and none would despise me.

NET Bible
Oh, how I wish you were my little brother, nursing at my mother's breasts; if I saw you outside, I could kiss you--surely no one would despise me!

New Revised Standard Version
O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother’s breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.

New Heart English Bible
Oh that you were like my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother. If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.

Webster's Bible Translation
O that thou wert as my brother, that was nourished at the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yes, I should not be despised.

World English Bible
Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.

Young's Literal Translation
Who doth make thee as a brother to me, Sucking the breasts of my mother? I find thee without, I kiss thee, Yea, they do not despise me,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Longing for Her Beloved
1O that you were to me like a brother who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. 2I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.…

Cross References
Song of Solomon 7:13
The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

Song of Solomon 8:2
I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.


Treasury of Scripture

O that you were as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find you without, I would kiss you; yes, I should not be despised.

that thou

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Haggai 2:7
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

sucked

Isaiah 66:11,12
That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory…

Galatians 4:26
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

find thee

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

John 8:42
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

I would

Song of Solomon 1:2
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

Psalm 2:12
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 45:10,11
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; …

yea

Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 102:16,17
When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory…

Mark 12:42-44
And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing…

I should not be despised

Jump to Previous
Breast Breasts Despise Despised Either Find Found Kiss Mother Mother's Nourished Nursed Outside Sucked Wert
Jump to Next
Breast Breasts Despise Despised Either Find Found Kiss Mother Mother's Nourished Nursed Outside Sucked Wert
Song of Solomon 8
1. The love of the church to Christ
6. The vehemence of love
8. The calling of the Gentiles
14. the church prays for Christ's coming














VIII.

(1) O that thou wert as my brother.--The poet makes his beloved recall the feelings she had for him before the obstacles to their union were removed. She dared not then avow her affection for him as a lover, and wished that their relationship had been such as to allow of their meeting and embracing without reproach. Marg., "They (i.e., her family and friends) should not despise (i.e., reproach) me."

Verses 1-3. - Oh that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; and none would despise me. I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me; I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. The meaning seems to be this - Let our relation to one another be the highest and the purest and the most permanent possible. The sisterly relation is not merely one of affection, but one of blood. The bond between husband and wife may be broken by the caprice and weakness of human feeling, but nothing can destroy the bond of blood. "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17); "There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24). The brotherly bond represents the strength of the blood relationship. When to that is added personal affection, then the tie is perfect. Shulamith means that she would have their love freed from all the uncertainties of human fickleness. As symbolically interpreted, therefore, we take this whole passage to signify that the Church, when it is desiring the closest fellowship with the Saviour, would be lifted above all the temptations of earthly life, which so often lower the standard of Christian feeling and service. The words are specially impressive in the lips of the bride of Solomon. It is a testimony to the inspiration of the whole book that the voluptuous monarch, whose life fell so far below the ideal of a godly king, should yet, indirectly though still powerfully, condemn and rebuke his own departure from God, setting clearly before us the surpassing excellence of pure love and the sanctity of married life. In the Mug's address to his bride he called her "sister" and "sister-bride;" she now virtually returns his own sentiment and calls him "brother."' She shows that she has risen in her love far above the mere fleshly desires - "the lust of the fiesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." She would blend her whole existence with that of her Lord. I would kiss thee; yea, and none would despise me. Nothing can more exquisitely and delicately express the fulness of affection. It is not merely a return for that which is given; it is free and spontaneous. So should our spiritual feelings be. They should be the natural outpouring of the soul towards the Saviour; not a worked up, artificial, spasmodic impulse, not a cold, dead formalism, not an unsympathetic service of conscience; but "doing the will of God from the heart." "Love is the fulfilling of the Law;" "Faith worketh by love." The second verse is differently rendered by some. Jerome, Venetian, and Luther take it as referring to the bride's dependence on her husband's superior wisdom - "Thou wouldest instruct me;" which, of course, is a very suitable sentiment as addressed to the wise King Solomon. The Targum expounds it thus: "I would conduct thee, O King Messiah, and bring thee into the house of my sanctuary; and thou wouldest teach me to fear God and to walk in his ways." Hitzig and our Revisers take the verb as in the third person feminine, and applied to the mother. "She would teach me as a mother teaches a young bride, from her own early experience." The old view that the bride is the personification of wisdom seems quite refuted by this speech of Shulamith's. She desires and waits for instruction. Solomon is wisdom. She is the soul of man, or the Church of God, delighting to sit at his feet and learn of him. Whichever rendering we choose, whether the mother or Solomon be regarded as teacher, the meaning is the same. It is, as Delitzsch has observed, a deep revelation of Shulamith's heart. "She knew how much she yet came short of being to the king all that a wife should be. But in Jerusalem the bustle of court life and the burden of his regal duties did not permit him to devote himself to her; in her mother's house, if he were once there, he would in. struct her, and she would requite him with her spiced wine and with the juice of the pomegranates." The "spiced wine," vinum conditura, aromatic wine, probably grape wine "mixed with fragrant and pungent essences," as in the East. The juice, or pressed juice, of the pomegranate is a delicious drink. There is no allusion to any love symbol. The grains of the pomegranates were said by the Arabians to be from Paradise (cf. the ῤοι'´της, or "vinum de punicis quod roidem vocant" in Dioscorides and Pliny). Perhaps this reference to exchange of gifts may be taken as symbolizing the happy state of the Church when she pours out her treasures in response to the spiritual blessings which she is freely receiving. The meaning is something beautiful and precious. And that is the highest state of religious life when the service we render and the gifts we place on the altar are felt to be the grateful sacrifices of our hearts under a sense of Divine love. When the Church of Christ depends for its support on such fellowship between itself and the Saviour there will be no limits to its attainments, no achievements beyond its powers. "All that see" such a state of the Church "shall acknowledge" the glory of it, "that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed" (see the whole of the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, which breathes the very spirit of Solomon's Song). The rejoicing bride then gives herself up to the thought of her husband's affection. In that beautiful simplicity and purity of her childhood's life she would realize the bliss of her new relation. Delitzsch describes her state of mind thus: "Resigning herself dreamily to the idea that Solomon is her brother, whom she may freely and openly kiss, and her teacher besides, with whom she may sit in confidential intercourse under her mother's eye, she feels herself as if closely embraced by him, and calls from a distance to the daughters of Jerusalem not to disturb this her happy enjoyment." Perhaps the sense of weakness and dependence is meant to be expressed. The bride is conscious that her lord is everything to her. In that identification which the highest love brings vividly into the soul, there is the joy of exultation. "All things are ours; and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
O
מִ֤י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

that
יִתֶּנְךָ֙ (yit·ten·ḵā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

you [were] to me
לִ֔י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

like a brother
כְּאָ֣ח (kə·’āḥ)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 251: A brother, )

who nursed
יוֹנֵ֖ק (yō·w·nêq)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3243: To suck, to give milk

at my mother’s
אִמִּ֑י (’im·mî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 517: A mother, )

breasts!
שְׁדֵ֣י (šə·ḏê)
Noun - mdc
Strong's 7699: The breast of a, woman, animal

If I found you
אֶֽמְצָאֲךָ֤ (’em·ṣā·’ă·ḵā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

outdoors,
בַחוּץ֙ (ḇa·ḥūṣ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2351: Separate by a, wall, outside, outdoors

I would kiss you,
אֶשָׁ֣קְךָ֔‪‬‪‬ (’eš·šā·qə·ḵā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5401: To kiss, to equip with weapons

and
גַּ֖ם (gam)
Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

no one
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

would despise me.
יָב֥וּזוּ (yā·ḇū·zū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 936: To disrespect


Links
Song of Solomon 8:1 NIV
Song of Solomon 8:1 NLT
Song of Solomon 8:1 ESV
Song of Solomon 8:1 NASB
Song of Solomon 8:1 KJV

Song of Solomon 8:1 BibleApps.com
Song of Solomon 8:1 Biblia Paralela
Song of Solomon 8:1 Chinese Bible
Song of Solomon 8:1 French Bible
Song of Solomon 8:1 Catholic Bible

OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 8:1 Oh that you were like my brother (Song Songs SS So Can)
Song of Solomon 7:13
Top of Page
Top of Page