Song of Solomon 8:7
“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 (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Context
Song of Solomon 8:7 follows the climactic declaration that love is strong as death. Completing that meditation, it proclaims that love cannot be extinguished by any flood and cannot be bought at any price -- the Song's final, sweeping affirmation of the strength and worth of true love.
What Does Song of Solomon 8:7 Mean?
Song of Solomon 8:7 completes the Song's great hymn to love, declaring it both unquenchable and priceless: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." The previous verse compared love to a blazing fire; now that flame is tested against torrents of water, and it cannot be put out. Floods that would extinguish any ordinary fire and sweep away anything in their path cannot drown true love. The image proclaims love's astonishing endurance -- it survives every storm, every flood of opposition and hardship, and burns on.
The second half turns to love's worth: "if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned." Love cannot be bought. If someone offered his entire fortune to purchase love, the offer would be utterly scorned, because love is not a commodity to be traded but a gift to be freely given and received. Together the two images crown the Song: love is stronger than the fiercest forces and more precious than the greatest wealth. Many readers have seen in these lines a reflection of God's own love -- a love no flood of trouble can quench and no price could ever buy, freely poured out upon His people. The verse leaves us in awe of love's power and value, and invites us to treasure it as the priceless gift it is.
In the Original Language
The Hebrew mayim rabbim (many waters) pictures overwhelming floods, kavah means to quench or extinguish, and buz means to despise or hold in contempt -- the scorn that any attempt to buy love deserves.
Cross References
“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.”
- Song of Solomon 8:6
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
- Romans 8:35
“Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:7
Application
When love is tested by floods of hardship, remember that genuine love is not so easily extinguished -- it endures the storm. And never imagine that love can be earned or purchased; it is a gift to be freely given and received. Treasure the love God freely pours out, a love no trouble can quench, and pass on that same unbuyable, enduring love to others.