Song of Solomon, 8

1. O that thou [wert] as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! [when] I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

1. If only you were my brother, nursed at my mother's breasts, I could kiss you outside if we met, without anyone despising me for it.

2. I would lead thee, [and] bring thee into my mother's house, [who] would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

2. I would lead and bring you into the house of my mother, and you would teach me there. I would give you wine with spice and the juice of my pomegranates.

3. His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

3. His left hand is under my head; his right arm embraces me.

4. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please.

4. I beg you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers of nature, not to arouse or stir up love before her time has come.

5. Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bare thee.

5. Who is this coming from the wilderness leaning upon her lover? I woke you under the apple tree, where you were conceived by your mother, where she who bore you was in travail.

6. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame.

6. Set me as a seal on your heart, set me as a seal on your arm. For love is strong as death; its jealousy lasting as the power of death, it burns like a blazing fire, it blazes like a mighty flame.

7. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

7. No flood can extinguish love nor river submerge it. If a man were to buy love with all the wealth of his house, contempt is all he would purchase.

8. We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

8. We have a little sister with her breasts yet unformed. What shall we do for her when her courtship is begun?

9. If she [be] a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she [be] a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

9. If she were a rampart, we would build towers of silver on it. If she were a gate, we would enclose it with panels of cedar.

10. I [am] a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

10. I am a rampart and my breasts are towers; thus I have become, in his eyes, like one who brings peace.

11. Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand [pieces] of silver.

11. At Baal-hamon Solomon had a vineyard, which he gave over to caretakers; for its fruit, each had to pay: a thousand pieces of silver.

12. My vineyard, which [is] mine, [is] before me: thou, O Solomon, [must have] a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

12. But my vineyard is mine and I myself keep it. You, Solomon, may have the thousand, and the fruit keepers two hundred pieces.

13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear [it].

13. You wh-o dwell in the gardens, with your friends in attendance, let me hear your utterance.

14. Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

14. Make haste, my love; be like a gazelle or a young stag on the spice-laden hills!