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¹ Oh 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.
² I would lead you and ^(a)bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
I would give you ^(b)spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
^3 (c)His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
⁴ I ^(d)adjure you, O ^(e)daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(f)that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.

^5 (g)Who 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.

⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as ^(h)a seal upon your arm,
for ⁽ⁱ⁾love is strong as death,
    ^(j)jealousy^[a] is fierce as the grave.^[b]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very ^(k)flame of the Lord.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his ^(l)house,
    he^[c] would be utterly despised.

⁸ We have a little sister,
    and she ^(m)has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day when she is spoken for?
⁹ If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with ⁽ⁿ⁾boards of cedar.

^10 (o)I was a wall,
    and my ^(p)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
    as one who finds^[d] peace.

¹¹ Solomon had ^(q)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he ^(r)let out the vineyard to ^(s)keepers;
    each one was to bring for its fruit ^(t)a thousand pieces of silver.
¹² My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
    and ^(u)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

^13 (v)O you who dwell in the gardens,
    with ^(w)companions listening for your voice;
    ^(x)let me hear it.

^14 (y)Make haste, my beloved,
    and be ^(z)like a gazelle
or a young stag
    on ^(aa)the mountains of spices.