Song of Solomon 8:9 (DRB)

Passage

If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.

Nearby Context

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?

Song of Solomon 8:9 If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.

Song of Solomon 8:10 I am a wall: and my breasts are as a tower since I am become in his presence as one finding peace.

Song of Solomon 8:11 The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wall", "build", "upon", "bulwarks", "silver", "door", "join", and "together". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wall" and "build", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Our sister is little and hath no..." into verse 10's "I am a wall and my breasts...", so "wall" and "build" 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 "wall" and "build" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.