Longing for Her Beloved

1Who will give you as a brother to me,

one having nursed at the breasts of my mother!

If I found you outside, I would kiss you;

yes, no one would despise me.

2I would lead you, I would bring you

into the house of my mother, she who taught me;

I would give you to drink from the wine of spice,

from the juice of my pomegranate.

3His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me.

4I adjure you⁺, O daughters of Jerusalem,

why stir up and why awaken love

until it pleases.

The Friends

5Who is this coming up from the wilderness,

leaning upon her beloved?

The Bride

Under the apple tree I awakened you;

there your mother conceived you;

there she travailed and brought you forth.

6Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm.

For strong as death is love,

cruel as Sheol is jealousy;†

its flames are flames of fire,

a blazing flame.

7Many waters are not able to quench love,

and the rivers cannot wash it away.

If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,

they would despise it with great despising.

The Friends

8A little sister is unto us,

and breasts are not unto her.

What shall we do for our sister,

on the day one should speak for her?

9If she is a wall,

we will build upon her a tower of silver;

and if she is a door,

we will enclose her with a plank of cedar.

The Bride

10I am a wall,

and my breasts are like towers.

Then I have become in his eyes

like one finding peace.

11There was a vineyard unto Solomon in Baal-hamon.

He gave out the vineyard to those keeping it;

a man would bring for its fruit

a thousand pieces of silver.†

12My vineyard is—my own—is before me;

the thousand is unto you, O Solomon,

and two hundred to those keeping watch over its fruit.

The Bridegroom

13O you dwelling in the gardens,

my companions are listening to your voice—

let me hear it!

The Bride

14Flee, my beloved,

and liken yourself to a gazelle,

or to a young stag of the deer,

on the mountains of spices.