Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 8:5
Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses the woman directly after concluding an adjuration to the daughters of Jerusalem in the preceding verse. The moment follows a poetic exchange about love's timing and ends with a declaration of love's enduring strength.
The words — מִתְרַפֶּקֶת (mit.ra.Pe.ket) translates to "leaning herself," and דּוֹדָהּ (do.Da/h) means "her lover." Together they describe physical dependence on the beloved figure.
The thread — Song 3:6 repeats the wilderness emergence question, depicting a figure rising like smoke. Psalm 63:8 parallels the support motif with the psalmist clinging to God while His right hand upholds him.
Why it lands — The text records a shift from public questioning to private memory, tracing the couple's origin to a specific place of conception. It asks the reader to observe how physical dependence and shared history ground the poem's claims about love's permanence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 3:6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?
- Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
- Psalms 63:8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.
- Song of Solomon 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
- Song of Solomon 3:4 I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.
- Song of Solomon 6:10 Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?
- Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
- 2 Chronicles 32:8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
- Psalms 45:10 Listen, O daughter! Consider and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house,