Song of Solomon 2:5
What does Song of Solomon 2:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Song of Solomon 2:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Song of Solomon 2:5 means
Overcome by love’s intensity, she pleads for nourishment: raisin-cakes and apples to strengthen her, because she is “sick from love.” This is not despair but the dizzying effect of profound affection and joy. Love can exhaust as well as exhilarate. The same apple that symbolized his refreshing presence now becomes a remedy for her weakened state. She asks for tangible supports as she navigates overwhelming emotion. The verse portrays love as embodied and holistic—it touches the heart, but it also affects the body. In sacred romance, care includes meeting practical needs that sustain delight without letting it consume one’s strength.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Make me strong with wine-cakes, let me be comforted with apples; I am overcome with love.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Sustain me with grape-cakes, Support me with citrons, for I <FI>am<Fi> sick with love.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Sustain ye me with raisin-cakes, Refresh me with apples; For I am sick of love.
Context
Following the public affirmation of love in verse 4, the maiden reveals its physical impact. The sequence moves from celebration to the need for sustenance, then to the experience of secure intimacy in verse 6. This crest of closeness is precisely why verse 7’s admonition will be necessary: passion must be protected by patience. Between verses 5 and 6, the reader senses both the beauty and the fragility of intense love, a fragility that the subsequent refrain guards, before the narrative shifts to a new scene with the beloved’s approach in verses 8–10.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Isaiah 26:8
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; to thy name, even to thy memorial name, is the desire of our soul.
- Hosea 3:1
And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins.
- Song of Solomon 5:8
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.
- Luke 24:32
And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?
- Song of Solomon 7:8
I said, I will climb up into the palm-tree, I will take hold of the branches thereof: Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, And the smell of thy breath like apples,
- Psalms 63:1
O God, thou art my God; earnestly will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, In a dry and weary land, where no water is.
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