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.
Many waters cannot put out love, and floods cannot drown it. If someone tried to buy love by giving away everything they own, it would be completely rejected.
The writer is saying that true love is so powerful that nothing can destroy it, and it's so precious that it cannot be bought with money or possessions.
📚 Historical Context
This verse comes from the Song of Solomon, a poetic book celebrating the love between a bride and groom in ancient Israel. In the ancient Near East, marriage was often arranged for economic or political reasons, making this celebration of passionate, faithful love particularly striking. The imagery of waters and floods would have been especially meaningful to people living in a region where flash floods were both life-giving and potentially destructive.
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