Song of Solomon 8

If I found you outside, I would kiss you;

yes, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother,

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.

⁵Who is this who comes up from the wilderness,

leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened 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 Sheol.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

a very flame of the LORD.

⁷Many waters can’t 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.

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.

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like towers,

then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

¹¹Solomon 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, Solomon,

two hundred for those who tend its fruit.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance,

let me hear your voice!

¹⁴Come away, my beloved!

Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!