Song of Solomon 8

¹O 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.

²I 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.

³His left hand is under my head,

and his right arm embraces me.

⁴O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you:

Do not arouse or awaken love

until the time is right.

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness,

leaning on her beloved?

I roused you under the apple tree;

there your mother conceived you;

there she travailed and brought you forth.

⁶Set me as a seal over your heart,

as a seal upon your arm.

For love is as strong as death,

its jealousy^a as unrelenting as Sheol.

Its sparks are fiery flames,

the fiercest blaze of all.

⁷Mighty 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.

⁸We 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?

⁹If she is a wall,

we will build a tower of silver upon her.

If she is a door,

we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

¹⁰I am a wall,

and my breasts are like towers.

So I have become in his eyes

like one who brings peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon.

He leased it to the tenants.

For its fruit, each was to bring

a thousand shekels of silver.^a

¹²But 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.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens,

my companions are listening for your voice.

Let me hear it!

¹⁴Come away, my beloved,

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

on the mountains of spices.