Song of Solomon 8

Longing for Her Beloved

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Advice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Footnotes:
a. Song of Solomon 8:6: Or ardor
b. Song of Solomon 8:6: Hebrew as Sheol
c. Song of Solomon 8:7: Or it
d. Song of Solomon 8:10: Or brings out