Song of Songs 8:1–4
"O that thou wert as my brother": public love
She wishes he were like a brother, so she could kiss him in the street without being despised, and bring him to her mother's house. The embrace and the refrain return, this time without the gazelles. The witnesses agree.
Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
The poem as first composed
No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).
Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592
Latin Vulgate (Clementine)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
Quis mihi det te fratrem meum, sugentem ubera matris meæ, ut inveniam te foris, et deosculer te, et jam me nemo despiciat? Apprehendam te, et ducam in domum matris meæ: ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito, et mustum malorum granatorum meorum. Læva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexabitur me. Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.
Latin numbering: Song 8:1–4. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
מִ֤י יִתֶּנְךָ֙ כְּאָ֣ח לִ֔י יוֹנֵ֖ק שְׁדֵ֣י אִמִּ֑י אֶֽמְצָאֲךָ֤ בַחוּץ֙ אֶשָׁ֣קְךָ֔ גַּ֖ם לֹא־יָב֥וּזוּ לִֽי׃ אֶנְהָֽגֲךָ֗ אֲבִֽיאֲךָ֛ אֶל־בֵּ֥ית אִמִּ֖י תְּלַמְּדֵ֑נִי אַשְׁקְךָ֙ מִיַּ֣יִן הָרֶ֔קַח מֵעֲסִ֖יס רִמֹּנִֽי׃ שְׂמֹאלוֹ֙ תַּ֣חַת רֹאשִׁ֔י וִֽימִינ֖וֹ תְּחַבְּקֵֽנִי׃ הִשְׁבַּ֥עְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֖ם בְּנ֣וֹת יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם מַה־תָּעִ֧ירוּ ׀ וּֽמַה־תְּעֹֽרְר֛וּ אֶת־הָאַהֲבָ֖ה עַ֥ד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּֽץ׃
Who would make you like a brother to me… I would find you outside and kiss you, and no one would scorn me
Hebrew numbering: Song 8:1–4.
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
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. 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. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872
Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
O mon frère bien-aimé, que n’as-tu sucé les mamelles de ma mère! Si je te trouve dehors, je te baiserai, et nul ne me méprisera. Je te prendrai par la main, je t’introduirai dans la maison de ma mère, dans la chambre de celle qui m’a conçu. Je te ferai boire du vin parfumé, et du jus de mes grenades. Il posera sa main gauche sur ma tête, et, de la droite, il m’embrassera. Je vous adjure, filles de Jérusalem, par les vertus de la campagne, n’éveillez pas, ne réveillez pas ma bien-aimée qu’elle ne le désire.
Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 8:1–4. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition.
What changed, and why
The wish is for public freedom: siblings could show affection openly, lovers could not. It does not mean the lovers are siblings; "sister" and "brother" are endearments here and in Egyptian love songs.
"Spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate" (v. 2): festive drink and erotic image.
The third refrain (v. 4) drops the oath by the gazelles and asks "why should you awaken love?"
What the evidence shows
- 8:1 implies the lovers are siblings.
- The third refrain omits the gazelles.
Sources
Related lessons
- Song of Songs 8: Love Is Strong as Death →She wishes he were like a brother so she could kiss him in public without scorn, and bring him to her mother's house (8:1–2); the embrace and the refrain return (vv. 3–4). "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"; she awakened him under the apple tree where his mother bore him (v. 5). Then the summit of the book: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart… 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. Many waters cannot quench love… if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned" (vv. 6–7). Brothers discuss their little sister; she answers that she is a wall and has found peace (vv. 8–10). Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon is let out for a thousand pieces of silver; "my vineyard, which is mine, is before me" (vv. 11–12). The book ends: "Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices" (vv. 13–14).
- Investigation: The Daughters of Jerusalem and the Watchmen →The woman speaks to a group of women, "the daughters of Jerusalem," throughout the Song, and twice goes into the city at night to search for her beloved. The first time the watchmen pass her by; the second time they beat her and take her cloak. This investigation looks at public and private space for women, the watchmen, and how to read the violent scene honestly.