Song of Solomon 8:6 (DBY)

Passage

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, Flames of Jah.

Nearby Context

Song of Solomon 8:4 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, Why should ye stir up, why awake [my] love, till he please?

Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awoke thee under the apple-tree: There thy mother brought thee forth; There she brought thee forth [that] bore thee.

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, Flames of Jah.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, Neither do the floods drown it: Even if a man gave all the substance of his house for love, It would utterly be contemned.

Song of Solomon 8:8 We have a little sister, And she hath no breasts: What shall we do for our sister In the day when she shall be spoken for?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seal", "upon", "heart", "thine", "love", and "strong". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "seal" and "upon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "Who is this that cometh up from..." into verse 7's "Many waters cannot quench love Neither do...", so "seal" and "upon" 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 "seal" and "upon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.