- 1
- ¶ WHO shall give you to me for my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother?
When I should find you in the street, I would kiss you; yea, I should not be despised.
- 2
- I would lead you and bring you into my mother’s house, into the chamber of her that bore me;
I would give you a drink of my delicious wine, and of the sweet juice of my pomegranates.
- 3
- His left arm is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
- 4
- I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up nor awake love until he please.
- 5
- ¶ Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?
I awakened you under the apple tree; there your mother brought you forth; there she that bore you was in travail.
- 6
- Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death; desire is cruel as Sheol; its flashes are flashes of fire and flame.
- 7
- Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the rivers carry it away;
and yet, if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, people would mock him.
- 8
- ¶ We have a little sister whose breasts have not developed;
what shall we do for our sister in the day when they shall seek her hand?
- 9
- If she be a wall, we will build upon her an upper chamber of silver;
and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
- 10
- I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers;
then I was in his eyes as one who has found favor.
- 11
- Solomon had a vineyard, and its fruits were abundant;
he let out the vineyard to keepers; a man offered for its fruits a thousand pieces of silver.
- 12
- My vineyard which is mine is before me;
a thousand pieces of silver are yours, O Solomon, and two hundred for the keepers of the fruit.
- 13
- ¶ Those who sit in the gardens and listen to your voice, have reported your words to me.
- 14
- Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
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