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. 2I 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. 3His left hand
should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. 4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake
my love, until he please. 5Who
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. 6Set 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. 7Many 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. 8We 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? 9If 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. 10I
am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. 11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand
pieces
of silver. 12My vineyard, which
is mine,
is before me: thou, O Solomon,
must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. 13Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear
it. 14Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.