8:1 Oh, how I wish you were1 my little brother,2
nursing at my mother’s breasts;
if I saw3 you outside, I could kiss you—
surely4 no one would despise me!5
8:2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house,
the one who taught me.6
I would give you7 spiced wine8 to drink,9
the nectar of my pomegranates.10
Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjuration
The Beloved about Her Lover:
8:3 His left hand caresses my head,
and his right hand stimulates me.11
The Beloved to the Maidens:
8:4 I admonish you, O maidens12 of Jerusalem:
“Do not13 arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”
The Awakening of Love
The Maidens about His Beloved:
8:5 Who is this coming up from the desert,
leaning on her beloved?
The Beloved to Her Lover:
Under the apple tree I aroused you;14
there your mother conceived you,
there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.15
The Nature of True Love
The Beloved to Her Lover:
8:6 Set me like a cylinder seal16 over your heart,17
like a signet18 on your arm.19
For love is as strong as death,20
passion21 is as unrelenting22 as Sheol.
Its flames burst forth,23
it is a blazing flame.24
8:7 Surging waters cannot quench love;
floodwaters25 cannot overflow it.
If someone were to offer all his possessions26 to buy love,27
they would be utterly despised.28
The Brother’s Plan and The Sister’s Reward
The Beloved’s Brothers:
8:8 We have a little sister,
and as yet she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?29
we will build on her a battlement31 of silver;
but if she is a door,
we will barricade32 her with boards33 of cedar.34
The Beloved:
8:10 I was a wall,
and my breasts were like fortress towers.35
Then I found favor36 in his eyes.37
Solomon’s Vineyard and The Beloved’s “Vineyard”
The Beloved to Her Lover:
8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon;
he leased out38 the vineyard to those who maintained it.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
8:12 My “vineyard,”39 which belongs to me,40 is at my disposal alone.41
The “thousand shekels” belong to you, O Solomon,
and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its “fruit.”
Epilogue: The Lover’s Request and His Beloved’s Invitation
The Lover to His Beloved:
8:13 O you who stay in the gardens,
my companions are listening attentively42 for your voice;
let me be the one to43 hear it!44
The Beloved to Her Lover:
8:14 Make haste, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.