< Song of Songs 8 >
1 I would that you, O my kinsman, were he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found you without, I would kiss you; yes, they should not despise me.
Who makes you as a brother to me, Suckling the breasts of my mother? I find you outside, I kiss you, Indeed, they do not despise me,
2 I would take you, I would bring you into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates.
I lead you, I bring you into my mother’s house, She teaches me, I cause you to drink of the spiced wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate,
3 His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
His left hand [is] under my head, And his right embraces me.
4 I have charged you, you daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please.
I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, How you stir up, And how you wake the love until she pleases!
5 Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised you up under an apple tree; there your mother brought you forth; there she that bore you brought you forth.
Who [is] this coming from the wilderness, Hastening herself for her beloved? Under the citron-tree I have awoken you, There your mother pledged you, There she [who] bore you gave a pledge.
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, [even] the flames thereof. (Sheol )
Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings [are] burnings of fire, a flame of YAH! (Sheol )
7 Much water will not be able to quench love, and rivers shall not drown it; if a man would give all his substance for love, [men] would utterly despise it.
Many waters are not able to quench the love, And floods do not wash it away. If one gives all the wealth of his house for love, Treading down—they tread on it.
8 Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for?
We have a little sister, and she does not have breasts, What do we do for our sister, In the day that it is told of her?
9 If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels.
If she is a wall, we build by her a palace of silver. And if she is a door, We fashion by her board-work of cedar.
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace.
I [am] a wall, and my breasts as towers, Then I have been in his eyes as one finding peace.
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Beelamon; he let his vineyard to keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand [pieces] of silver.
Solomon has a vineyard in Ba‘al-Hamon, He has given the vineyard to keepers, Each brings for its fruit one thousand pieces of silver;
12 My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon [shall have] a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred.
My vineyard—my own—is before me, The one thousand [is] for you, O Solomon. And the two hundred for those keeping its fruit. O dweller in gardens!
13 You that dwell in the gardens, the companions listen to your voice: make me hear [it].
The companions are attending to your voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe,
14 Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.
Or to a young one of the harts on mountains of spices!