Song of Solomon 8

1 I wish that you were my brother who (nursed at/drank milk from) my mother’s breasts [when you were a baby], [because, if you were my brother], if I saw you when you were outside [the house], I could kiss you, and no one would say that my doing that was wrong.

I would that thou, O my kinsman, wert he that sucked the breasts of my mother; when I found thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, they should not despise me.

2 [No one would object if] I led you to my mother’s house, to where my mother, who taught me [many things], lives. I would like to take you to my mother’s house because I would [like to make love to you] [EUP], [and that would be as delightful as] [MET] juice [squeezed] from pomegranates.

I would take thee, I would bring thee into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me; I would make thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranates.

3 You would put your left arm under my head and with your right arm hold me close.

His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

4 [I would say to] you women of Jerusalem, “Solemnly promise me that you will not disturb us while we are making love until we are ready to quit.”

I have charged you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the virtues of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please.

5 Who is that [woman] who is coming up from the desert, (leaning on/clinging close to) the man who loves her? I woke you up [when you were] under the apple tree at the place where your mother conceived you, which is the same place where she gave birth to you.

Who is this that comes up all white, leaning on her kinsman? I raised thee up under an apple-tree; there thy mother brought thee forth; there she that bore thee brought thee forth.

6 Keep me [close to you], like [SIM] a seal on your heart, [or] like [SIM] a bracelet on your arm. Our love [for each other] is as powerful as death, it is as enduring as the grave. [It is as though] our love [for each other] bursts into flames and burns like a hot fire. (Sheol h7585)

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm; for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, her shafts are shafts of fire, [even] the flames thereof. (Sheol h7585)

7 Nothing can extinguish our love [for each other], not [even] a flood. If a man tried to cause a woman to love him by saying he would give her everything that is in his house, she would refuse.

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.

8 We have a younger sister, and her breasts are still small. So this is [RHQ] what we should do for her on the day that we promise [some young man] that he can marry her:

Our sister is little, and has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, in the day wherein she shall be spoken for?

9 If [her chest is flat like] [MET] a wall, we will [decorate it by] putting silver [jewels that are like] [MET] towers on it. Or, if she is [flat like] [MET] a door, we will decorate her with bits/pieces of cedar wood.

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.

10 My [chest was previously flat like] [MET] a wall, [but now] my breasts are [big] like [SIM] towers. So the one who loves me is delighted with me.

I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers; I was in their eyes as one that found peace.

11 [King] Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon, and he rented it to people for them to take care of it. He required each one to pay him 1,000 pieces of silver [each year] for the grapes [that they harvested].

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.

12 [But my body is like] [MET] my own vineyard, and Solomon, I am giving it to you. [You do not need to pay me] 1,000 pieces of silver [to enjoy my body], but I will give 200 pieces of silver to those who take care of me [MET].

My vineyard, even mine, is before me; Solomon [shall have] a thousand, and they that keep its fruit two hundred.

13 You are staying in the gardens and my friends are listening to your voice; [so] allow me to hear it, [too.]

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: make me hear [it].

14 You who love me, come [to me] quickly; [run to me] [MET, EUP] as fast as [SIM] a gazelle or young deer runs across [MET] hills of spices.

Away, my kinsman, and be like a doe or a fawn on the mountains of spices.