Kidung Agung 8:3-4

Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration

The Beloved about Her Lover:

8:3 His left hand caresses my head,

and his right hand stimulates me. ¹ 

The Beloved to the Maidens:

8:4 I admonish you, O maidens ²  of Jerusalem:

“Do not ³  arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

[8:3]  ¹ tn See the notes on 2:6, which is parallel to this verse.

[8:4]  ² tn Heb “daughters of Jerusalem.”

[8:4]  ³ 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.