Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Song of Solomon 8:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse gives the likely woman the final imperative for the beloved to hurry or flee like a gazelle on spice mountains.
Companions are already listening; he asks to hear her himself
This verse is one part of that explanation in Song of Solomon 8:13-14. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Song of Solomon 8:13-14
Read Song of Solomon 8:14 with 8:13-14. This verse gives the likely woman the final imperative for the beloved to hurry or flee like a gazelle on spice mountains. The complete unit establishes this movement: The final voices seek sound and movement rather than possession: he asks to hear, she calls him to move like a gazelle, and the collection closes open to renewed desire and distance.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The close returns to voice, garden, gazelle, spice, invitation, and distance, allowing the lyric cycle to remain alive rather than resolving it into a biography. Within that movement, this verse gives the likely woman the final imperative for the beloved to hurry or flee like a gazelle on spice mountains.
Read Song of Solomon 8:13–14 together
Why these verses belong together: The request to hear and the answering call to hurry or flee close the collection with reciprocal voice and unresolved movement.
Verse 13. 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
Verse 14. 14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
Follow the Context
- A voice addresses the one dwelling in gardens.
- Companions are said to listen.
- The speaker asks to hear the beloved's voice.
- The answering voice tells the beloved to hurry or flee like a gazelle on spice mountains.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Make haste, my beloved”
In plain language: a final call to flee or hurry across a sensuous landscape
gives the likely woman the final imperative for the beloved to hurry or flee like a gazelle on spice mountains. The open ending preserves movement, desire, distance, and her final voice rather than narrating possession.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk requiring the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The command does not authorize abandonment, manipulative withdrawal, or pursuit after refusal.
What Remains True
The open ending preserves movement, desire, distance, and her final voice rather than narrating possession.
Teach It Back
Explain how Song of Solomon 8:14 contributes to Song of Solomon 8:13-14. Include what the surrounding lines add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Song of Solomon 8:13-14 — Let Me Hear; Make HasteSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Flee versus hurry, direction, speaker, and the echo of 2:17 remain disputed.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Song of Solomon 8:13-14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 8:13-14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: The Song of Songs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1260, translation and notes on 8:13-14
Open source ↗