8
1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother!
When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;
Yea, I should not be despised.
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me:
I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 His left hand should be under my head,
And his right hand should embrace me.
4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
I raised thee up under the apple tree:
There thy mother brought thee forth:
There she brought thee forth that bare thee.
6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The coals thereof are coals of fire,
Which hath a most vehement flame.
7 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.
8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver:
And if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers:
Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken to thy voice:
Cause me to hear it.
14 Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.