# I went to my first Purim tonight

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-to-my-first-purim-tonight/1028158>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 3, 2026, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-to-my-first-purim-tonight/1028158 "2026-03-03T09:31:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![librarymouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eada6e/32.png) [@librarymouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/librarymouse)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-to-my-first-purim-tonight/1028158/21 "2026-03-06T09:27:59Z")

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Here is one of many Christian versions of the Song of Songs 8:6-7:

Set me as a seal on your heart, a seal on your arm;  
For love is as strong as death, devotion unending as the grave.  
A spark of love is a flash of fire, a flame of God himself.  
Deep waters cannot quench love; no flood can sweep it away.

This version, as well as other English and other language translations, is often read at weddings. I have known grooms who engraved a word or line of it inside the wedding band, or tattooed it on their ring finger or arm.  
I chose to recite this version at my husband’s memorial service.

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**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-went-to-my-first-purim-tonight/1028158/22 "2026-03-06T15:26:04Z")

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So that’s a pretty accurate translation, except that it mentions God where the original doesn’t. This change significantly narrows the range of possible interpretations, by unambiguously identifying God’s flames as positive rather than destructive, and of course by speaking of God in the third person, removing the possibility that one of the participants in the conversation might _be_ God and making the passage more clearly about romantic love.

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