What Does Song of Solomon 8:8 Mean?
We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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?THE KEY
Before the little sister is spoken for, her smallness becomes a shared question of care.
THE MEANING
You recognize the part of life that is not yet mature and wonder what its next season requires. The verse leaves that need exposed and the answer open: care begins with asking what can be done for her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being unready means nothing can be done for you; here, her immaturity prompts a question about how to care for her.
THE ROOT
יְדֻבַּר
yedubbar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or declare; the related noun also means a word, matter, or thing.
“spoken for” in this verse is yedubbar. The phrase rests on a root that holds speech and matter together. Her future is presented as something spoken about, while the family’s question makes her well-being the matter at hand.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
Speech and the matter being discussed share the same root, linking her prospective future to the family’s concern.
dibber: Spoke or declared
דִּבֵּר
This verb form keeps the phrase grounded in speaking about her, rather than describing a future that has already arrived.
קְטַנָּה
qetannah
GROWS FROM
קטנ
To be small or young; to be lesser in size or degree.
The root can describe both smallness and youth, so “little” can carry a sense of developmental stage as well as size. The verse names her present immaturity plainly while setting it beside a future threshold.
ALSO GROWS
qāṭōn: Small or young, masculine form
קָטֹן
The masculine form shows the same root’s basic sense of smallness and youth.
qetannim: Small ones or younger ones
קְטַנִּים
In the plural, the word family can describe those who are lesser or younger, emphasizing smallness as a position in development.
THE PATTERN
When someone is not yet ready for a coming threshold, their condition becomes a shared responsibility.
And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds that nurse are upon me. And if men drive them hard for one day, all the flock will die.He feeds his flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in his arm, carries them against his chest, and gently leads the ones who nurse.But when Jesus saw it, he was vexed, and said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hold them back, for the governance of God belongs to such as these.THE THREAD
The small one shall become a thousand, and the little one a strong nation; I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.Song calls the sister qetannah; Isaiah uses the same q-t-n root in “little one” and “small one.” The echo lets smallness name a present measure without making it the measure of what can follow.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us