Song of Songs



Chapter 8

The Beloved's Wish Song

   1 (The Beloved to Her Lover) Oh, how I wish you were my little brother, nursing at my mother's breasts; if I saw you outside, I could kiss you - surely no one would despise me!
   2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house, the one who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.

Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration

   3 (The Beloved about Her Lover) His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me.
   4 (The Beloved to the Maidens) I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem: "Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!"

The Awakening of Love

   5 (The Maidens about His Beloved) Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? (The Beloved to Her Lover) Under the apple tree I aroused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.

The Nature of True Love

   6 (The Beloved to Her Lover) Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.
   7 Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions to buy love, the offer would be utterly despised.

The Brother's Plan and the Sister's Reward

   8 (The Beloved's Brothers) We have a little sister, and as yet she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for?
   9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver; but if she is a door, we will barricade her with boards of cedar.
   10 (The Beloved) I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. Then I found favor in his eyes.

Solomon's Vineyard and the Beloved's Vineyard

   11 (The Beloved to Her Lover) Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he leased out the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
   12 My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal alone. The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit. Epilogue: The Lover's Request and His Beloved's Invitation
   13 (The Lover to His Beloved) O you who stay in the gardens, my companions are listening attentively for your voice; let me be the one to hear it!
   14 (The Beloved to Her Lover) Make haste, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.