Text -- The Song of Songs 8:3-4 (NET)

Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration

8:3 The Beloved about Her Lover: His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me. 8:4 The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Sos 8:3

¹ tn See the notes on 2:6, which is parallel to this verse.

NET Notes: Sos 8:4

¹ tn Heb “daughters of Jerusalem.”

² tn Heb “Why arouse or awaken …?” Although the particle מָה (mah) is used most often as an interrogative pronoun (“What?” “Why?”), it also can be used as a particle of negation. For example, “How (מָה) could I look at a girl?” means “I have not looked at a girl!” (Job 31:1); “What (מַה) do we have to drink?” means “We have nothing to drink” (Exod 15:24); “What (מַה) part do we have?” means “We have no part” (1 Kgs 12:16); and “Why (מַה) arouse or awaken love?” means “Do not arouse or awaken love!” (Song 8:4). See HALOT 551 s.v. מָה C.