Canticum Canticorum 8
1 Quis mihi det te fratrem meum, sugentem ubera matris meæ, ut inveniam te foris, et deosculer te, et jam me nemo despiciat?
Oh that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, and none would despise me.
2 Apprehendam te, et ducam in domum matris meæ: ibi me docebis, et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito, et mustum malorum granatorum meorum.
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, that thou mightest instruct me; I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 Læva ejus sub capite meo, et dextera illius amplexabitur me.
His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
4 Adjuro vos, filiæ Jerusalem, ne suscitetis, neque evigilare faciatis dilectam, donec ipsa velit.
'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem: Why should ye awaken, or stir up love, until it please?'
5 Quæ est ista quæ ascendit de deserto, deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? Sub arbore malo suscitavi te; ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata est genitrix tua.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee; there thy mother was in travail with thee; there was she in travail and brought thee forth.
6 Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum, ut signaculum super brachium tuum, quia fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus æmulatio: lampades ejus lampades ignis atque flammarum. (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; the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD. (Sheol h7585)
7 Aquæ multæ non potuerunt extinguere caritatem, nec flumina obruent illam. Si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suæ pro dilectione, quasi nihil despiciet eam.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, he would utterly be contemned.
8 Soror nostra parva, et ubera non habet; quid faciemus sorori nostræ in die quando alloquenda est?
We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
9 Si murus est, ædificemus super eum propugnacula argentea; si ostium est, compingamus illud tabulis cedrinis.
If she be a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10 Ego murus, et ubera mea sicut turris, ex quo facta sum coram eo, quasi pacem reperiens.
I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof; then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.
11 Vinea fuit pacifico in ea quæ habet populos: tradidit eam custodibus; vir affert pro fructu ejus mille argenteos.
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he gave over the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof brought in a thousand pieces of silver.
12 Vinea mea coram me est. Mille tui pacifici, et ducenti his qui custodiunt fructus ejus.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
13 Quæ habitas in hortis, amici auscultant; fac me audire vocem tuam.
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken for thy voice: 'Cause me to hear it.'
14 Fuge, dilecte mi, et assimilare capreæ, hinnuloque cervorum super montes aromatum.
Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a gazelle or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
