Song of Solomon 8:5 (ASV)

Passage

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee: There thy mother was in travail with thee, There was she in travail that brought thee forth.

Nearby Context

Song of Solomon 8:3 His left hand [should be] under my head, And his right hand should embrace me.

Song of Solomon 8:4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, That ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, Until he please.

Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee: There thy mother was in travail with thee, There was she in travail that brought thee forth.

Song of Solomon 8:6 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.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "cometh", "wilderness", "leaning", "upon", "beloved", "under", "apple-tree", and "awakened". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "cometh" and "wilderness", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "I adjure you O daughters of Jerusalem..." into verse 6's "Set me as a seal upon thy...", so "cometh" and "wilderness" belong inside that flow. In Song of Solomon context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "cometh" and "wilderness" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.