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8
Longing for Her Beloved
1 O that you were to me like a brother
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you and bring you
to the house of my mother who taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the nectar of my pomegranates.
3 His left hand is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
4 O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until the time is right.
The Friends
5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
The Bride
I roused you under the apple tree;
there your mother conceived you;
there she travailed and brought you forth.
6 Set me as a seal over your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
its jealousy *Or passion as unrelenting as Sheol.
Its sparks are fiery flames,
the fiercest blaze of all.
7 Mighty waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
his offer would be utterly scorned.
The Friends
8 We have a little sister,
and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
we will build a tower of silver to protect her.
If she is a door,
we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
The Bride
10 I am a wall,
and my breasts are like towers.
So I have become in his eyes
like one who brings peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon.
He leased it to the tenants.
For its fruit, each was to bring
a thousand shekels of silver.†Hebrew a thousand of silver; that is, approximately 25.1 pounds or 11.4 kilograms of silver
12 But my own vineyard is mine to give;
the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon,
and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
The Bridegroom
13 You who dwell in the gardens,
my companions are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it!
The Bride
14 Come away, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.

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*8:6 Or passion

†8:11 Hebrew a thousand of silver; that is, approximately 25.1 pounds or 11.4 kilograms of silver

Public Domain