Song of Solomon 8:14
in Song of Solomon 8Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Make haste, my beloved, And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart Upon the mountains of spices.
KJV
Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 8
Commentary
14 notes on this verseChrist, detested by coiling snakes and beset by reptiles crawling on the earth, flees from the barren plain; he knows no dwelling except the heights of virtue; he knows no home except among those daughters of the church who can say, "We are a sweet fragrance of Christ to God." For some indeed, it is an odor of death, leading to death, for those who perish; but to others, it is an odor of life, leading to life—in those namely, who with living faith, breathe the fragrance of the Lord's resurrection.
This site's exposition
You who dwell in the gardens
on Song of Solomon 8:13-14
The poem ends with two voices calling, as he says that "my companions are listening for your voice". She sends him running, the gazelle figure of 2:9 and 2:17. The church heard in "Come away" its own cry of Revelation 22:20, and the poem closes still calling.
This site's exposition
Come away, my beloved
Albert Barnes heard this closing line repeat 2:17 with one change. There the mountains were Bether, a name he took to mean division; here they are mountains of spices. He read the change as the end of any thought of separation.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
By saying "Flee, my beloved," Christ makes heard the voice that he desires to hear. Through this, it is confessed that he alone on the earth, alone among all humankind (true man, but born in an ineffable manner), alone found to be a foreigner and …
It urges that the bridegroom flee, because already, although it is of earth, it can follow him in his flight. It says this so that it may be like the young deer that escapes the nets; for it desires also to flee and to fly away above the world.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Flee, my beloved, etc. This phrase can rightly be understood both concerning the triumph of the Lord's ascension and concerning those things which occur daily in the Church. For the beloved flees after speaking to the bridegroom and his sister, because, having completed the dispensation …
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 8 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
The beloved flees, because he hides himself from reprobate hearts so that he may not be understood by them. For when reprobate minds approach the hearing or reading of God's words with perverse intention, by a just judgment they do not find the truth which …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
She was already betrothed to him, but, the nuptials being yet not solemnized and published (the bride, the Lamb's wife, will not be completely ready till his second coming), she was obliged to be shy and to keep at some distance; she therefore wishes she may be taken for his sister, he having called her so ( ch.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Make haste, my beloved,....
But those that truly love Christ long for his second coming, because it will be the crown both of his glory and their bliss. The comfort and satisfaction which we sometimes have in communion with God in grace here should make us breathe the more earnestly after the immediate vision and complete fruition of him in the kingdom of glory.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Make haste, my beloved - These appear to be the words of the bride giving permission, but entreating him to speed his return. What these mountains of spices were, we cannot particularly tell; but they must have been thus named from their producing the trees on which the spices grew. They might have been the same as the mountains of Bether, Son 2:17 (note), or the mountains of myrrh, Son 4:6 (note); where see the notes. Here ends the seventh night of the marriage week.
THE Song of Songs describes the love of Jesus Christ to His people and it ends with an intense desire on the part of the Church that the Lord Jesus should come back to her. The last word of the lover to the Beloved One is, "Speed Your return; make haste and come back." Is it not somewhat singular that, as the last verse of the Book of Love has this note in it, so the last verses of the whole Book of God, which I may also call the Book of Love, have that same thought in them?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Re 8:3, 4); thus He surmounts the other three mountains, God's justice, our sin, death. The mountain of spices is as much greater than our sins, as heaven is higher than earth (Ps 103:11). The abrupt, unsatisfied close with the yearning prayer for His visible coming shows that the marriage is future, and that to wait eagerly for it is our true attitude (1Co 1:7;
THE Song of Songs describes the love of Jesus Christ to His people and it ends with an intense desire on the part of the Church that the Lord Jesus should come back to her. The last word of the lover to the Beloved One is, "Speed Your return; make haste and come back." Is it not somewhat singular that, as the last verse of the Book of Love has this note in it, so the last verses of the whole Book of God, which I may also call the Book of Love, have that same thought in them? At the 20th verse of the last chapter of the Revelation, we read, "He which testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." The Song of Love and the Book of Love end in almost the same way—with a strong desire for Christ's speedy return. Are your hearts, dear Friends, in tune with that desire? They ought to be, yet have not some of you almost forgotten that Jesus is to come a second time? Refresh your memories. Others of you, who know that He will come—have you not thought of it as a doctrine that might be laid on the shelf? Have you not been without any desire for His glorious appearing? Is this right? That Song of Solomon is the central Book of the Bible. It is the innermost shrine of Divine Revelation, the Holy of Holies of Scripture. And if you are living in communion with God, you will love that Book, you will catch its spirit and you will be inclined to cry with the spouse, "Make haste, my Beloved." If you have no longings for Christ's appearance, no desires for His speedy return, surely your heart is sick and your love is faint! I fear that you are getting into a lukewarm state. I believe that our relationship to the Second Advent of Christ may be used as a thermometer with which to tell the degree of our spiritual heat.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Flee my beloved. From this exile, and redeem us from among them.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
You who sit in the gardens. The Holy One, Blessed Is He, says to the congregation of Yisroel, “You, who are scattered in exile, grazing in the gardens of strangers and sitting in synagogues and study halls.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּרַ֣ח׀ | berach | hasten | H1272 → | |
| דּוֹדִ֗י | dodi | O lover my | H1730 → | 61 times |
| וּֽדְמֵה־ | udemeh- | and be like | H1819 → | 30 times |
| לְךָ֤ | lekha | <for> yourself | ||
| לִצְבִי֙ | litzvi | <to> a gazelle | H6643 → | 33 times |
| א֚וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| לְעֹ֣פֶר | leofer | <to> [the] fawn of | H6082 → | 5 times |
| הָֽאַיָּלִ֔ים | haaiyalim | the deer<s> | H354 → | 11 times |
| עַ֖ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָרֵ֥י | harei | mountains of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| בְשָׂמִֽים׃ | vesamim | spices | H1314 → | 29 times |
בְּרַ֣ח׀hasten
berachH1272 →
דּוֹדִ֗יO lover my
dodiH1730 →61 times
וּֽדְמֵה־and be like
udemeh-H1819 →30 times
לְךָ֤<for> yourself
lekha
לִצְבִי֙<to> a gazelle
litzviH6643 →33 times
א֚וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
לְעֹ֣פֶר<to> [the] fawn of
leoferH6082 →5 times
הָֽאַיָּלִ֔יםthe deer<s>
haaiyalimH354 →11 times
עַ֖לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
הָרֵ֥יmountains of
hareiH2022 →546 times
בְשָׂמִֽים׃spices
vesamimH1314 →29 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 22:20He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 22:7
“Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of prophecy in this book.”
- Revelation 22:12
“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
- Hebrews 9:28
Through
Revelation 22:17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Revelation 21:6
And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Isaiah 55:1–3
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!
- John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Isaiah 12:3
With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation,
- John 4:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this chapter
About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 9:49; Ambrose of Milan, DEATH AS A GOOD 5:18; Aponius, EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 12:83; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2360: “Come, My Beloved!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 8.