Book 22 of 39 in the Old Testament — Love & marriage.
Song of Solomon is a lyrical love poem celebrating the romance, courtship, and marriage of a husband and wife, told through their alternating voices. Its vivid, sensory imagery has been read both as a celebration of human romantic and physical love within marriage, and allegorically as a picture of God's love for his people. Unlike most of the Old Testament, it contains no direct religious instruction, focusing instead on desire, delight, and devotion between two people. It stands as Scripture's frank affirmation of marital love.
“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”King James Version
The beloved calls his love to arise and come away with him.
“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.”King James Version
The lover says his bride has stolen his heart.
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.”King James Version
The bride declares she belongs to her beloved and he to her.
“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.”King James Version
Love is described as strong as death, an unquenchable flame.
“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”King James Version
Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers sweep it away.