¹ Oh, that you were like my brother,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I should find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.
² I would lead you and bring you
Into the house of my mother,
She who used to instruct me.
I would cause you to drink of spiced wine,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.

(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)

³ His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
⁴ I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.

A Relative

⁵ Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?

I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.

THE Shulamite to Her Beloved

⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;^[a]
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.^[b]
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.

THE Shulamite’s Brothers

⁸ We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.

THE Shulamite

¹⁰ I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
Then I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.
¹¹ Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon;
He leased the vineyard to keepers;
Everyone was to bring for its fruit
A thousand silver coins.

(To Solomon)

¹² My own vineyard is before me.
You, O Solomon, may have a thousand,
And those who tend its fruit two hundred.

SHE Beloved

¹³ You who dwell in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice—
Let me hear it!

THE Shulamite

¹⁴ Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.