Song of Solomon 8
1 Oh that you were my brother, who took milk from my mother's breasts! When I came to you in the street, I would give you kisses; yes, I would not be looked down on.
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 take you by the hand into my mother's house, and she would be my teacher. I would give you drink of spiced wine, drink of the pomegranate.
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 would be under my head, and his right hand about me.
His left hand under my head, then, his right hand, embraceth me.
4 I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not let love be moved till it is ready.
I [HE] adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, —Why will ye wake, and why will ye arouse the dear love until she please!
5 Who is this, who comes up from the waste places, resting on her loved one? It was I who made you awake under the apple-tree, where your mother gave you birth; there she was in pain at your birth.
[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 Put me as a sign on your heart, as a sign on your arm; love is strong as death, and wrath bitter as the underworld: its coals are coals of fire; violent are its flames. (Sheol h7585)
[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! (Sheol h7585)
7 Much water may not put out love, or the deep waters overcome it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be judged a price not great enough.
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 We have a young sister, and she has no breasts; what are we to do for our sister in the day when she is given to a man?
[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 she is a wall, we will make on her a strong base of silver; and if she is a door, we will let her be shut up with cedar-wood.
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 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then was I in his eyes as one to whom good chance had come.
[SHE] I, was a wall, and, my breasts, like towers, —Then, became I, in his eyes, one who did indeed find good content.
11 Solomon had a vine-garden at Baal-hamon; he let out the vine-garden to keepers; every one had to give a thousand bits of silver for its fruit.
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 My vine-garden, which is mine, is before me: you, O Solomon, will have the thousand, and those who keep the fruit of them two hundred.
Mine own vineyard, is before me, —The thousand belong to thee, O Solomon, and two hundred to the keepers of the fruit thereof.
13 You who have your resting-place in the gardens, the friends give ear to your voice; make me give ear to it.
[HE] O thou fair dweller in the gardens, the companions are giving heed to thy voice, Let me hear it.
14 Come quickly, my loved one, and be like a roe on the mountains of spice.
[SHE] Come quickly, my beloved, and resemble thou a gazelle, or a young stag, upon the mountains of balsam-trees.
