8
1If only I could treat you like my brother,[Z]
one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,
I would find you in public and kiss you,
and no one would scorn me.
2I would lead you, I would take you,
to the house of my mother who taught me.[A]
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from my pomegranate juice.
3His left hand is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
4Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.
Y
5Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?
I awakened you under the apricot tree.
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.
6Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death;
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love’s flames are fiery flames—
the fiercest of all.[B]
7Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth[C] for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
B
8Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.[D]
W
10I am[E] a wall
and my breasts like towers.
So in his eyes I have become
like one who finds peace.[F]
11Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.
He leased the vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for his fruit
1,000 pieces of silver.
12I have my own vineyard.[G]
The 1,000 are for you, Solomon,
but 200 for those who guard its fruits.
M
13You[H] who dwell in the gardens—
companions are listening for your voice—
let me hear you!
W
14Hurry to me, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.
Holman Christian Standard Bible® / © 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers About
