| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. | 1Oh, I wish you were my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts. Then I could kiss you no matter who was watching, and no one would criticize me. |
| 2I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. | 2I would bring you to my childhood home, and there you would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, my sweet pomegranate wine. |
| 3His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! | 3Your left arm would be under my head, and your right arm would embrace me. |
| 4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. | 4Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right. Young Women of Jerusalem |
| 5Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor. | 5Who is this sweeping in from the desert, leaning on her lover? Young Woman I aroused you under the apple tree, where your mother gave you birth, where in great pain she delivered you. |
| 6Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. | 6Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. |
| 7Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. | 7Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned. The Young Woman’s Brothers |
| 8We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? | 8We have a little sister too young to have breasts. What will we do for our sister if someone asks to marry her? |
| 9If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. | 9If she is a virgin, like a wall, we will protect her with a silver tower. But if she is promiscuous, like a swinging door, we will block her door with a cedar bar. Young Woman |
| 10I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace. | 10I was a virgin, like a wall; now my breasts are like towers. When my lover looks at me, he is delighted with what he sees. |
| 11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. | 11Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon, which he leases out to tenant farmers. Each of them pays a thousand pieces of silver for harvesting its fruit. |
| 12My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. | 12But my vineyard is mine to give, and Solomon need not pay a thousand pieces of silver. But I will give two hundred pieces to those who care for its vines. Young Man |
| 13O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. | 13O my darling, lingering in the gardens, your companions are fortunate to hear your voice. Let me hear it, too! Young Woman |
| 14Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. | 14Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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