Song of Solomon8

¹Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts ! If I found you outside , I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

²I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother — she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink , the juice of my pomegranate .

³His left hand is under my head , and his right hand embraces me!

⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem , that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases .

⁵Who is that coming up from the wilderness , leaning on her beloved ? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor .

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart , as a seal upon your arm , for love is strong as death , jealousy is fierce as the grave . Its flashes are flashes of fire , the very flame of the Lord.

⁷Many waters cannot quench love , neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house , he would be utterly despised .

⁸We have a little sister , and she has no breasts . What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for ?

⁹If she is a wall , we will build on her a battlement of silver , but if she is a door , we will enclose her with boards of cedar .

¹⁰I was a wall , and my breasts were like towers ; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace .

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon ; he let out the vineyard to keepers ; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver .

¹²My vineyard , my very own , is before me; you, O Solomon , may have the thousand , and the keepers of the fruit two hundred .

¹³O you who dwell in the gardens , with companions listening for your voice ; let me hear it.

¹⁴Make haste , my beloved , and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices .