Song of Solomon 8

English Standard Version

Longing for Her Beloved

8 Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother's breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
²I would lead you and ^(A)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(B)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
³^(C)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴I ^(D)adjure you, O ^(E)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(F)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

⁵^(G)Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.

⁶Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as ^(H)a seal upon your arm,
for ^(I)love is strong as death,
    ^(J)jealousy^[a] is fierce as the grave.^[b]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very ^(K)flame of the Lord.
⁷Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his ^(L)house,
    he^[c] would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

⁸We have a little sister,
    and she ^(M)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 on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with ^(N)boards of cedar.

She

¹⁰^(O)I was a wall,
and my ^(P)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds^[d] peace.

¹¹Solomon had ^(Q)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he ^(R)let out the vineyard to ^(S)keepers;
    each one was to bring for its fruit ^(T)a thousand pieces of silver.
¹²My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
    and ^(U)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.