Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 8:7

"Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned." — Song Of Solomon 8:7 (ASV)

It would utterly be despised. —Better, he would be, etc., and literally, to despise, they would despise him; an infinitive absolute before a finite verb expressing intensity. (Compare to 1 Samuel 20:6; Amos 9:8, and so on.)

This fine passage, with its reference to the invincible might and untempted constancy of true love, hardly leaves a doubt that the poem, while an ideal picture of the passion, is also a reminiscence of an actual history of two hearts that had been tried and proved true against both difficulties and seductions.