Song of Solomon

8 Oh that thou hadst been a very brother to me, Who had sucked the breasts of my own mother,—Had I found thee without I had kissed thee, Yea folk would not have despised me!

2 I would have guided thee—brought thee into the house of my mother, Thou wouldst have instructed me,—I would have let thee drink of spiced wine, Of the pressed-out juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand under my head Then his right hand embraceth me.

4 [He.] I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,—Why will ye wake and why will ye arouse the dear love until she please!

5 [They.] Who is this coming up out of the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? [He.] Under the apple-tree I roused thee, Where thy mother was in pain with thee, Where she was in pain who gave thee birth!

6 [She.] Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm, For mighty as death is love, Exacting as hades is jealousy,—The flames thereof are flames of fire, The flash of Yah!

7 Many waters cannot quench love, Nor shall floods overwhelm it,—If a man would give all the substance of his house for love They would utterly despise him.

8 [They.] A sister have we, a little one, And breasts hath she none,—What shall we do for our sister, In the day when she may be spoken for?

9 If a wall she is we will build upon it a battlement of silver,—But if a door she is we will close it up with a plank of cedar.

10 [She.] I was a wall, and my breasts like towers,—Then became I in his eyes one who did indeed find good content.

11 A vineyard had Solomon as the owner of abundance, He put out the vineyard to keepers,—Every man was to bring in for the fruit thereof a thousand silverlings:

12 Mine own vineyard is before me,—The thousand belong to thee, O Solomon, And two hundred to the keepers of the fruit thereof.

13 [He.] O thou fair dweller in the gardens, The companions are giving heed to thy voice, Let me hear it.

14 [She.] Come quickly, my beloved, and resemble thou A gazelle or a young stag, Upon the mountains of balsam-trees.