Bride
Oh that you were like my brother,
Who sucked the breasts of my mother!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
Yes, and no one would despise me.
2I would lead you, bringing you into my mother’s house,
Who would instruct me.
I would have you drink spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.
3His left hand would be under my head.
His right hand would embrace me.
4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
That you not stir up, nor awaken love,
Until it so desires.
Friends
5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?
Bride
Under the apple tree I aroused you.
There your mother conceived you.
There she was in labour and bore you.
6Set me as a seal on your heart,
As a seal on your arm;
For love is strong as death.
Jealousy is as cruel as the grave;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
A very flame of YAH.1
7Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can floods drown it.
If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love,
He would be utterly scorned.
Friends
8We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is to be spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
We will build on her a turret of silver.
If she is a door,
We will enclose her with boards of cedar.
Bride
10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers,
Then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.
11Sulayman2 had a vineyard at Baal Hamon.
He leased out the vineyard to keepers.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
12My own vineyard is before me.
The thousand are for you, Sulayman;
Two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
Groom
13You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance,
Let me hear your voice!
Bride
14Come away, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
- 8:6 YAH, abbreviated form of YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 8:11 Sulayman, this Arabic name and the name Solomon are both derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo which means “peace.” ↩︎