8:1 “Oh that you were like a brother to me
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you;
No one would despise me, either.
8:2 I would lead you and bring you
Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me;
I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates.
8:3 Let his left hand be under my head,
And his right hand embrace me.”
8:4 “Swear to me, you daughters of Jerusalem:
①Do not disturb or awaken my love
Until she pleases.”
▷ ①Lit Why should you disturb or
8:5 “Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?”
“Beneath the apple tree I awakened you;
There your mother went into labor with you,
There she was in labor and gave birth to you.
8:6 Put me like a seal over your heart,
Like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
①Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flames are flames of fire,
②The flame of the LORD.
▷ ①Or Its passion is as inflexible ②Another reading is A vehement flame
8:7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers flood over it;
If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,
It would be utterly despised.”
8:8 “We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts;
What shall we do for our sister
On the day when she is spoken for?
8:9 If she is a wall,
We will build on her a battlement of silver;
But if she is a door,
We will barricade her with planks of cedar.”
8:10 “I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers;
Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.
8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers.
Each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
8:12 My very own vineyard is ①at my disposal;
The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”
▷ ①Lit before me
8:13 “You who sit in the gardens:
My companions are listening for your voice—
Let me hear it!”
8:14 “ ①Hurry, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle or a young ②stag
On the mountains of balsam trees!”
▷ ①Lit Flee ②Lit of the stags