8:1 O {a} that thou [wert] as my brother, that was nourished at the breasts of my mother! [when] I should find thee outside, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

(a) The Church called of the Gentiles speaks thus to the Church of Jerusalem.

8:3 {b} His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

(b) Read So 2:6.

8:4 {c} I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not, nor awake [my] love, until he please.

(c) Read So 3:5.

8:6 {d} Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals of it [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame.

(d) The spouse desires Christ to be joined in perpetual love with him.

8:8 {e} We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

(e) The Jewish Church speaks this of the Church of the Gentiles.

8:9 {f} If she [is] a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she [is] a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

(f) If she is sure and fast, she is fit for her husband to dwell in.

8:10 {g} I [am] a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

(g) The Church promises fidelity and constancy.

8:11 {h} Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; every one for the fruit of it was to bring a thousand [pieces] of silver.

(h) This is the vineyard of the Lord hired out, Mt 21:33.

8:13 Thou that dwellest in the {i} gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear [it].

(i) Christ dwells in his Church, whose voice the faithful hear.

8:14 {k} Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

(k) The Church desires Christ that if he depart from them, yet he would haste to help them in their troubles.