1O that you were like a brother to me,

that nursed at my mother's breast!

If I met you outside, I would kiss you,

and none would despise me.

2I would lead you and bring you

into the house of my mother,

and into the chamber of her that conceived me.8.2 Gk Syr: Heb mother; she (or you) will teach me

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

the juice of my pomegranates.

3O that his left hand were under my head,

and that his right hand embraced me!

4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

that you stir not up nor awaken love

until it please.

5Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning upon her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in travail with you,

there she who bore you was in travail.

6Set 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.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

a most vehement flame.

7Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it.

If a man offered for love

all the wealth of his house,

it would be utterly scorned.

8We have a little sister,

and she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister,

on the day when she is spoken for?

9If she is a wall,

we will build upon her a battlement of silver;

but if she is a door,

we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

10I was a wall,

and my breasts were like towers;

then I was in his eyes

as one who brings8.10 Or finds peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Ba'al-ha'mon;

he let out the vineyard to keepers;

each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12My vineyard, my very own, is for myself;

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,

and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

13O you who dwell in the gardens,

my companions are listening for your voice;

let me hear it.

14Make haste, my beloved,

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

upon the mountains of spices.