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¹ I AM like the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley.² Like the lilies among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.

³ Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.⁴ He brought me to the banqueting house, and assigned as my portion love.⁵ Sustain me with delicacies, surround me with apples; for I am sick for love.⁶ His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.⁷ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, or by young roes of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake my love until it please.

⁸ The voice of my beloved! behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle or a young roe; behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks through the windows, bending himself over the lattice.¹⁰ My beloved spoke and said to me, Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.¹¹ For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;¹² The flowers appear on the earth; the time of pruning has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land;¹³ The fig tree puts forth its green figs, and the vines with tender shoots give fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come away.

¹⁴ O my dove, who nests in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places of the hedge, let me see your countenance, let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is comely.¹⁵ Let us catch the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vines have tender shoots.¹⁶ My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds among the lilies.¹⁷ Until the day cools and the shadows flee away, turn my beloved and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the fragrant mountains.