Song of Solomon 8:6 (DRB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Song of Solomon 8:4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my love till she please.

Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee.

Song of Solomon 8:6 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.

Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.

Song of Solomon 8:8 Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "seal", "upon", "heart", "love", "strong", and "death". 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 charity neither can...", 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.