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Song of Solomon 8:1

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The Maiden’s Fanciful Wish

8How I wish that you were my little brother,ab

who nursed upon my mother’s breasts!c

If I met you outside,d I would kiss you,

and no one would despise me!e

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Footnotes

  1. aLiterally “O that he would give you like a brother to me”
  2. bThe Hebrew construction (which is somewhat misleading if rendered in a woodenly literal sense) is an idiom expressing one’s fanciful wish
  3. cLiterally “at the breast of my mother”
  4. dLiterally “I will find you in the street”
  5. eLiterally “also they would not despise me”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Oh that you were like a brother to me

who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I found you outside, I would kiss you,

and none would despise me.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

If only you were to me like a brother,

who was nursed at my mother’s breasts!

Then, if I found you outside,

I would kiss you,

and no one would despise me.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

If only I could treat you like my brother,

one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,

I would find you in public and kiss you,

and no one would scorn me.

NLTNew Living Translation

Oh, I wish you were my brother,

who nursed at my mother’s breasts.

Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching,

and no one would criticize me.

KJV 1900King James Version

O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother!

When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;

Yea, I should not be despised.