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1Would that you were a brother to me,
nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I met you out of doors, I would kiss you
and none would despise me.
2I would lead you, bring you to my mother’s house,[#Sg 3:4.]
where you would teach me,
Where I would give you to drink
spiced wine, my pomegranate juice.
3His left hand is under my head,[#Sg 2:6.]
and his right arm embraces me.
4I adjure you, Daughters of Jerusalem,[#Sg 2:7; 3:5.]
do not awaken or stir up love
until it is ready!
5D? Who is this coming up from the desert,[#Sg 3:6; 6:10.]
leaning upon her lover?
W Beneath the apple tree I awakened you;
there your mother conceived you;
there she who bore you conceived.
6Set me as a seal upon your heart,[#: this could be worn bound to the arm, as here, or suspended at the neck, or as a ring (Jer 22:24). It was used for identification and signatures. : in human experience, Death and Sheol are inevitable, unrelenting; in the end they always triumph. Love, which is just as certain of its victory, matches its strength against the natural enemies of life; waters cannot extinguish it nor floods carry it away. It is more priceless than all riches. : the Hebrew is difficult: the short form (-Yah) of the divine name Yhwh found here may associate love with the Lord, or it may be acting as a superlative—i.e., god-sized flames.]
as a seal upon your arm;
For Love is strong as Death,
longing is fierce as Sheol.
Its arrows are arrows of fire,
flames of the divine.
7Deep waters cannot quench love,[#Prv 6:31.; #: often used to designate chaos (Ps 93:4; 144:7; Is 17:12–13; Hb 3:15). The fires of love cannot be extinguished, even by waters of chaos. : love cannot be bought.]
nor rivers sweep it away.
Were one to offer all the wealth of his house for love,
he would be utterly despised.
8W “We have a little sister;[#The woman quotes the course of action her elder brothers had decided on. While she is yet immature, they will shelter her in view of eventual marriage. : if she is virtuous, she will be honored; if she is not, she will be kept under strict vigilance. : a precious ornament.]
she has no breasts as yet.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9If she is a wall,
we will build upon her a silver turret;
But if she is a door,
we will board her up with cedar planks.”
10I am a wall,[#In reply to the officious and meddling attitude of the brothers, she answers with their terms: she is mature (“wall,” “towers”). : or, “finds peace.”]
and my breasts are like towers.
I became in his eyes
as one who brings peace.
11M? Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;[#These enigmatic verses have been variously interpreted, depending on who is taken to be the speaker. In v. 11, if the woman, she boasts that she is a vineyard of great value. If the man, he boasts over his possession of her.]
he gave over the vineyard to caretakers.
For its fruit one would have to pay
a thousand silver pieces.
12My vineyard is at my own disposal;
the thousand pieces are for you, Solomon,
and two hundred for the caretakers of its fruit.
13M You who dwell in the gardens,[#As in 2:14, her lover asks for a word or a song and she replies in words similar to those found in 2:17.]
my companions are listening for your voice—
let me hear it!
14W Swiftly, my lover,[#Sg 2:9, 17; 4:6.]
be like a gazelle or a young stag
upon the mountains of spices.