Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 8:6
Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The bride speaks to her beloved, following the image of her rising from the wilderness leaning on him (8:5). She makes a direct request of him.
The words — חותם (cho.Tam), "seal," appears twice: a signet pressed into wax or clay, marking inalienable ownership. The request is to be fixed in two places — heart and arm — the seat of will and the instrument of action.
The thread — Isaiah 49:16 inverts the image: God inscribes Israel on His palms, making the mark permanent and irrevocable. The "jealousy" (קִנְאָה) here is the same word used for God's covenant jealousy in the Decalogue.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let love be treated as a feeling one can set down; it names it as a force stronger than death and beyond purchase. The reader is asked to take the claim seriously rather than sentimentalize it.
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
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Cross-references
- Revelation 12:11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.
- Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.
- Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
- Numbers 5:14 and if a feeling of jealousy comes over her husband and he suspects his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he suspects her even though she has not defiled herself—
- Proverbs 6:34 For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
- Jeremiah 22:24 “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.
- Haggai 2:23 On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”
- John 21:15 When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”
- Psalms 84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.