CHAPTER 8
O
that
you were to me
like a brother
who nursed
at my mother’s
breasts!
If I found you
outdoors,
I would kiss you,
and
no one
would despise me.
I would lead you
and bring you
to
the house
of my mother
who taught me.
I would give you spiced
wine
to drink,
the nectar
of my pomegranates.
Who
is this
coming up
from
the wilderness,
leaning
on her
beloved?
I roused you
under
the apple tree;
there
your mother
conceived you,
there
she travailed
and brought you forth.
Set
me as a seal
over
your heart,
as a seal
upon
your arm.
For
love
is as strong
as death,
jealousy
as unrelenting
as Sheol.
Its sparks
are fiery
flames,
the fiercest blaze of all.
Mighty
waters
cannot
quench
love;
rivers
cannot
sweep it away.
If
a man
were to give
all
the riches
of his house
for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
We have a little
sister,
and her breasts
are not yet grown.
What
shall we do
for our sister
on the day
she is spoken for?
If
she
is a wall,
we will build
a tower
of silver
to protect her.
If
she
is a door,
we will enclose
her
with panels
of cedar.
I
am a wall
and my breasts
are like towers.
So
I have become
in his eyes
like one who brings
peace.
Solomon
had
a vineyard
in Baal-hamon.
He leased
it
to the tenants.
For its fruit,
each
was to bring
a thousand shekels
of silver.
But my own vineyard
is mine to give;
the thousand shekels
are for you,
O Solomon,
and two hundred
are for those who tend
its fruit.