Solomon 8

Solomon 8

1Oh that you were like a brother to me,

who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I found you outside,

I would kiss you;

no one would despise me.

2I would lead you and bring you

into the house of my mother,

who used to instruct.

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

the nectar of my pomegranates.

3Oh that his left hand were under my head,

while his right hand embraces me.

4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

do not arouse or awaken love

until it pleases.

Friends of the Beloved

5Who is this coming up from the wilderness,[#SS 3:6]

leaning on her lover?

The Beloved

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother travailed in labor with you;

there she who was in labor bore you.

6Place me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm;

for love is as fierce as death,

jealousy is as severe as Sheol.

Its fires of desire are like ardent flames,

the very flame of the Lord .

7Many waters cannot quench love,

nor can rivers sweep it away.

If a man were to give for love all the wealth

of his house,

it would be utterly despised.

Brothers of the Beloved

8We have a little sister,

and she 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 upon her a battlement of silver;

but if she is a door,

we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

The Beloved

10But I am a wall,

and my breasts are like towers;

thus I have become like one in his eyes

who has found complete peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;[#Ecc 2:4; Isa 7:23]

he let out the vineyard to keepers.

Each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12My very own vineyard is before me;[#SS 1:6]

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,

and those who tend its fruit two hundred.

The Lover

13O you who dwell in the gardens,

with companions listening for your voice;

let me hear it!

The Beloved

14Hurry, my lover,

and be like a gazelle or a young stag

on the mountains of spices!

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
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