¹If only I could treat you like my brother,[#8:1 Lit Would that you were like a brother to me]

one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,

I would find you in public and kiss you,

and no one would scorn me.

²I would lead you, I would take you,

to the house of my mother who taught me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink

from the juice of my pomegranate.

³May his left hand be under my head,

and his right arm embrace me.

⁴Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you,

do not stir up or awaken love

until the appropriate time.

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness,[#8:5 Sg 3:6; 6:10]

leaning on the one she loves?

I awakened you under the apricot tree.

There your mother conceived you;

there she conceived and gave you birth.

⁶Set me as a seal on your heart,

as a seal on your arm.

For love is as strong as death;

jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol.

Love’s flames are fiery flames –

an almighty flame!

⁷A huge torrent cannot extinguish love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If a man were to give all his wealth for love,

it would be utterly scorned.

⁸Our sister is young;

she has no breasts.

What will we do for our sister

on the day she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall,

we will build a silver barricade on her.

If she is a door,

we will enclose her with cedar planks.

¹⁰I am a wall[#8:10 Or was]

and my breasts like towers.

So to him I have become

like one who finds peace.

¹¹Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.[#8:11 Ec 2:4]

He leased the vineyard to tenants.

Each was to bring for his fruit

one thousand pieces of silver.

¹²I have my own vineyard. ,[#8:12 Lit My vineyard, which is mine, is before me ; Sg 1:6; #8:12 Sg 1:6]

The one thousand are for you, Solomon,

but two hundred for those who take care of its fruits.

¹³You who dwell in the gardens,[#8:13 In Hb, the word for You is feminine.]

companions are listening for your voice;

let me hear you!

¹⁴Run away with me, my love,[#8:14 Lit Flee]

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

on the mountains of spices.