Song of Solomon 2:5 (DRB)

Passage

Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.

Nearby Context

Song of Solomon 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

Song of Solomon 2:4 He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.

Song of Solomon 2:5 Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.

Song of Solomon 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

Song of Solomon 2:7 I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the field, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "stay", "flowers", "compass", "apples", "languish", and "love". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "stay" and "flowers", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "He brought me into the cellar of..." into verse 6's "His left hand is under my head...", so "stay" and "flowers" 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 "stay" and "flowers" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.