Song of Solomon 8:6
New International Version
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

New Living Translation
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.

English Standard Version
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible
Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

King James Bible
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

New King James Version
Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame.

New American Standard Bible
“Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flames are flames of fire, The flame of the LORD.

NASB 1995
“Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.

NASB 1977
“Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of the LORD.

Legacy Standard Bible
Put me like a seal over your heart, Like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe as Sheol; Its flashes are flashes of fire, The very flame of Yah.

Amplified Bible
“Put me like a seal on your heart, Like a seal on your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as severe and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead). Its flashes are flashes of fire, [A most vehement flame] the very flame of the LORD!

Christian Standard Bible
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol. Love’s flames are fiery flames — an almighty flame!

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol. Love’s flames are fiery flames— the fiercest of all.

American Standard Version
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Set me as the seal on your heart and as a seal on your arm, because love is as strong as death, and jealousy hard as Sheol! Its blazing is like the blazing of fire and the flame!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, even the flames thereof.

Contemporary English Version
Always keep me in your heart and wear this bracelet to remember me by. The passion of love bursting into flame is more powerful than death, stronger than the grave.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames.

English Revised Version
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Wear me as a signet ring on your heart, as a ring on your hand. Love is as overpowering as death. Devotion is as unyielding as the grave. Love's flames are flames of fire, flames that come from the LORD.

Good News Translation
Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire.

International Standard Version
Set me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion as intense as Sheol. The flames of love are flames of fire, a blaze that comes from the LORD.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm; For love is strong as death, Jealousy is cruel as the grave; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of the LORD.

Literal Standard Version
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm, | For strong as death is love, | Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, | Its burnings [are] burnings of fire, a flame of YAH!

Majority Standard Bible
Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

New American Bible
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; For Love is strong as Death, longing is fierce as Sheol. Its arrows are arrows of fire, flames of the divine.

NET Bible
Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.

New Revised Standard Version
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.

New Heart English Bible
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD.

Webster's Bible Translation
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals of it are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

World English Bible
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation
Set me as a seal on thy heart, as a seal on thine arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings are burnings of fire, a flame of Jah!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Longing for Her Beloved
5Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth. 6Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all. 7Mighty waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, his offer would be utterly scorned.…

Cross References
Numbers 5:14
and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself--or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself--

Proverbs 6:34
For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

Isaiah 49:16
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.

Jeremiah 22:24
"As surely as I live," declares the LORD, "even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

Haggai 2:23
On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts."


Treasury of Scripture

Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame.

as a seal

Exodus 28:9-12,21,29,30
And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: …

Isaiah 49:16
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Jeremiah 22:24
As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

love

Song of Solomon 5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

Psalm 42:1,2
To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God…

Psalm 63:1
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

jealousy

Numbers 5:14
And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

Numbers 25:11
Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

Deuteronomy 32:21
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

cruel

Psalm 120:4
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

Proverbs 25:22
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

Romans 12:20
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

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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














(6) Seal.--See Jeremiah 22:24; Haggai 2:23, &c. A symbol of something especially dear and precious.

Jealousy.--Strong passion, from a word meaning to be red with flame; not in a bad sense, as the parallelism shows:--

"Strong as death is love,

Inexorable as Sheol is ardent passion."

Grave.--Heb. sheol. Perhaps, as in the LXX., Hades, with its figurative gates and bars (Psalm 6:5, Note).

Coals.--Heb. resheph; in Psalm 78:48, hot thunderbolts (comp. Habakkuk 3:5); in Job 5:7, sparks; Marg., sons of the burning; Deuteronomy 32:24, burning heat of the burning fever of the plague. . . .

Verses 6, 7. - Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord. 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 be utterly contemned. Is this to be regarded as the reply of the bride to the tender allusion of her husband to their first love; or is it, as some think, only the first words which belong to the bride, while the rest of the two verses are a kind of chorus echoing her loving appeal, and bringing the general action of the poem to a conclusion? It is difficult to decide this, and the meaning is not affected either way. Perhaps, however, it is best to take it as spoken by the bride, who continues her address to the end of the eighth verse. She is full of joy in the return of perfect confidence; she prays that the full tide of affection may never cease to flow, that there be no ebbing of that happy feeling in which she now delights; and then sings the praise of love itself, as though a prelude of praise to a long and eternal peace. The seal is the signet ring, chotham, from a root "to impress" It was sometimes carried by a string on the breast, and would, therefore, be near the heart (see Genesis 38:18). It was sometimes worn on the hand (see Jeremiah 22:24; and cf. Genesis 41:42; Esther 3:12). It was not worn on the arm like a bracelet (2 Samuel 1:10). Probably it was not the signet ring which is referred to in the second clause: "Set me as a seal on thine heart, and as a bracelet on thine arm." The same simile is not infrequent in the prophets. The desire of Shulamith was to escape all possibility of those declensions of which she had spoken before. "Let me never be out of thy thoughts; let me never go back from my fulness of joy in thy love." The true believer understands well such language. He knows that the maintenance of devout affection is not a matter of mere desire and will. The Lord himself must help us with his blessed gifts, the influence of his gracious Spirit to overcome the feebleness and fickleness of a fallen heart. We want to be close to the heart of the Saviour; we want to be constantly in his eye, and so diligently employed in his service, so closely associated with the work of his mighty arm, that we shall be ever receiving from him the signs and evidences of his approval and affection. The purity and perfection of true love are the theme of every sincere believer. The priceless value of such love is described in the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 6:30), in Numbers 22:18, and 1 Corinthians 13:3. It is an unquenchable flame - nothing can resist it. We cannot but recall the rapturous language of one who himself was an example of the highest devotedness to the Saviour, who rejoiced over death and the grave in the consciousness of victory through him from whose love nothing can separate us (Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Certainly the history of the sufferings and trials of the true Church form a most striking commentary upon these words. Floods of persecution have swept over it, but they have not quenched love. The flame has burst forth again and again when it seemed to be extinguished, and it has become a very "flame of the Lord." The bush has been burning, but has not been consumed. By jealousy is intended love in its intensity not bearing arival. The "flame of the Lord" may be compared with "the voice of the Lord," which is described in Hebrew poetry as connected with the fury of the storm. The flame, therefore, would be lightning and the voice thunder. The whole of this passage, which forms a kind of keynote of the poem, is more like a distinct strain introduced to give climax to the succession of songs than the natural expression of the bride's feelings. It has been always regarded as one of the sublimest apostrophes to love to be found anywhere. The enemies of God and of humanity are represented as falling before it, death and the grave. Its vehemence and force of manifestation are brought vividly before us by the comparison of the flash of lightning. It is remarkable that this exaltation of love should be included in the Old Testament, thus proving that the Mosaic Law, with its formal prescriptions, by no means fulfils the whole purpose of God in his revelation to the world. As the New Testament would not have been complete without the message of the beloved disciple, so this Old Testament must have its song of love. Nor is it only the ideal and the heavenly love which is celebrated, but human affection itself is placed very high, because it is associated with that which is Divine. It is a more precious thing than mere wealth or worldly honour, and he that trifles with it deserves the utmost scorn and contempt of his fellows. It is well to remark how consistently the poetic framework is maintained. There is no attempt to leave the lines of human relations even at this point, whets evidently the sentiment rises above them. The love which is apostrophized is not removed from earth in order to be seen apart from all earthly imperfections and impurities. We are invited rather to look through the human to the Divine which embraces it and glorifies it. That. is the method of the Divine revelation throughout. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." We do not need to take Solomon's Song as an allegory. It is a song of human love, but as such it is a symbol of that which is Divine.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Set
שִׂימֵ֨נִי (śî·mê·nî)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular | first person common singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

me as a seal
כַֽחוֹתָ֜ם (ḵa·ḥō·w·ṯām)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2368: A seal, signet ring

over
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

your heart,
לִבֶּ֗ךָ (lib·be·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

as a seal
כַּֽחוֹתָם֙ (ka·ḥō·w·ṯām)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2368: A seal, signet ring

upon
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

your arm.
זְרוֹעֶ֔ךָ (zə·rō·w·‘e·ḵā)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2220: The arm, the foreleg, force

For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

love
אַהֲבָ֔ה (’a·hă·ḇāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 160: Love (noun)

is as strong
עַזָּ֤ה (‘az·zāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 5794: Strong, vehement, harsh

as death,
כַמָּ֙וֶת֙ (ḵam·mā·weṯ)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4194: Death, the dead, their place, state, pestilence, ruin

jealousy
קִנְאָ֑ה (qin·’āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7068: Ardor, zeal, jealousy

as unrelenting
קָשָׁ֥ה (qā·šāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 7186: Hard, severe

as Sheol.
כִשְׁא֖וֹל (ḵiš·’ō·wl)
Preposition-k | Noun - common singular
Strong's 7585: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)

Its sparks
רְשָׁפֶ֕יהָ (rə·šā·p̄e·hā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 7565: A live coal, lightning, an arrow, fever

are fiery
אֵ֖שׁ (’êš)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 784: A fire

flames,
רִשְׁפֵּ֕י (riš·pê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7565: A live coal, lightning, an arrow, fever

the fiercest blaze of all.
שַׁלְהֶ֥בֶתְיָֽה׃ (šal·he·ḇeṯ·yāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7957: A flare of fire


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OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal on your (Song Songs SS So Can)
Song of Solomon 8:5
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