1 Who doth make thee as a brother to me, Sucking the breasts of my mother? I find thee without, I kiss thee, Yea, they do not despise me, 2 I lead thee, I bring thee in unto my mother's house, She doth teach me, I cause thee to drink of the perfumed wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate, 3 His left hand [is] under my head, And his right doth embrace me. 4 I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, How ye stir up, And how ye wake the love till she please! 5 Who [is] this coming from the wilderness, Hasting herself for her beloved? Under the citron-tree I have waked thee, There did thy mother pledge thee, There she gave a pledge [that] bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal on thy heart, as a seal on thine arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings [are] burnings of fire, a flame of Jah! 7 Many waters are not able to quench the love, And floods do not wash it away. If one give all the wealth of his house for love, Treading down -- they tread upon it. 8 We have a little sister, and breasts she hath not, What do we do for our sister, In the day that it is told of her? 9 If she is a wall, we build by her a palace of silver. And if she is a door, We fashion by her board-work of cedar. 10 I [am] a wall, and my breasts as towers, Then I have been in his eyes as one finding peace. 11 Solomon hath a vineyard in Baal-Hamon, He hath given the vineyard to keepers, Each bringeth for its fruit a thousand silverlings; 12 My vineyard -- my own -- is before me, The thousand [is] for thee, O Solomon. And the two hundred for those keeping its fruit. O dweller in gardens! 13 The companions are attending to thy voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe, 14 Or to a young one of the harts on mountains of spices! | |