Longing for Her Beloved
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,
and none would despise me.
2I would lead you and bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5Who 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 a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy8:6 Or ardor is fierce as the grave.8:6 Hebrew as Sheol
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very 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 house,
he8:7 Or it would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
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 on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
She
10I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds8:10 Or brings out peace.
11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he let out the vineyard to keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13O you who dwell in the gardens,
with companions listening for your voice;
let me hear it.
She
14Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.
This publication contains the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.ESV Text Edition: 2016.
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