SHIR HA’SHIRIM 8

1 Who would make you a brother to me,
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts?
Should I find you outside,
I would kiss you;
I would not be despised.

2 I would lead you,
I would bring you into the house of my mother,
She who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
Of the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.

4 I have put you under oath,
O daughters of Yerushalayim,
Do not stir up or awake
Love until it pleases.

5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labour with you;
There she was in labour, gave birth to you.

6 Put me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
A flame of Yah!

7 Many waters are unable to extinguish love,
And floods do not wash it away.
If one would give all the wealth of his house for love,
It would be utterly scorned.

8 We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts.
What do we do for our sister
In the day when she is spoken for?

9 If she is a wall,
We build upon her a battlement of silver.
And if she is a door,
We would enclose her with boards of cedar.

10 I am a wall,
And my breasts like towers;
So I became in his eyes
As one who found peace.

11 Shelomoh had a vineyard
In Ba’al Hamon;
He let out the vineyard to keepers;
Each one was to bring for its fruit
A thousand pieces of silver.

12 My own vineyard is before me.
O Shelomoh, a thousand belongs to you,
And two hundred to those who keep its fruit.

13 You who sit in the gardens,
The companions listen for your voice;
Let me hear it!

14 Hurry, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.