Canticum Canticorum 8

1 quis mihi det te fratrem meum sugentem ubera matris meae ut inveniam te foris et deosculer et iam me nemo despiciat

Oh that some one would make thee as my brother that hath sucked my mother's breasts! should I then find thee without, I would kiss thee; and yet, people would not despise me.

2 adprehendam te et ducam in domum matris meae ibi me docebis et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito et mustum malorum granatorum meorum

I would lead thee, I would bring thee into my mother's house, thou shouldst teach me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the sweet juice of my pomegranate.

3 leva eius sub capite meo et dextera illius amplexabitur me

Oh that his left hand might be under my head, and that his right hand might embrace me.

4 adiuro vos filiae Hierusalem ne suscitetis et evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, why will ye awaken, and why will ye excite my love, until it please [to come of itself]?—

5 quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto deliciis affluens et nixa super dilectum suum sub arbore malo suscitavi te ibi corrupta est mater tua ibi violata est genetrix tua

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her friend?—Under the apple-tree have I waked thee up; there thy mother brought thee forth; there brought thee forth she that bore thee.

6 pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum ut signaculum super brachium tuum quia fortis est ut mors dilectio dura sicut inferus aemulatio lampades eius lampades ignis atque flammarum (Sheol h7585)

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm; for strong as death is love; violent like the nether world is jealousy; its heat is the heat of fire, a flame of God. (Sheol h7585)

7 aquae multae non poterunt extinguere caritatem nec flumina obruent illam si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suae pro dilectione quasi nihil despicient eum

Many waters are not able to quench love, nor can the rivers flood it away: if a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, men would utterly despise him.—

8 soror nostra parva et ubera non habet quid faciemus sorori nostrae in die quando adloquenda est

We have a little sister, and she hath yet no breasts: what shall we do for our sister on the day when she shall be spoken for?

9 si murus est aedificemus super eum propugnacula argentea si ostium est conpingamus illud tabulis cedrinis

If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace 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 repperiens

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favor.

11 vinea fuit Pacifico in ea quae habet populos tradidit eam custodibus vir adfert pro fructu eius mille argenteos

Solomon had a vineyard at Ba'al-hamon; he had given up the vineyard unto the keepers; every one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12 vinea mea coram me est mille tui Pacifice et ducenti his qui custodiunt fructus eius

My vineyard, which was mine, was before me: thine, O Solomon, be the thousand, and let two hundred be for those that keep its fruit.—

13 quae habitas in hortis amici auscultant fac me audire vocem tuam

“Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions listen for thy voice: oh let me hear it.”

14 fuge dilecte mi et adsimilare capreae hinuloque cervorum super montes aromatum

Flee away, my friend, and be thou like the roebuck, or the fawn of the hinds, upon the mountain of spices.