1
If only I could treat you like my brother,(a)
one who nursed at my mother’s breasts,
I would find you in public and kiss you,
and no one would scorn me.
2
I would lead you, I would take you,
to the house of my mother(A) who taught me.(b)
I would give you spiced wine to drink
from my pomegranate juice.
3
His left hand is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.(B)
4
Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you:
do not stir up or awaken love
until the appropriate time.(C)
5
Y Who is this(D) coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on the one she loves?


W I awakened you under the apricot tree.(E)
There your mother conceived you;
there she conceived and gave you birth.
6
Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.(F)
For love is as strong as death;(G)
ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love’s flames are fiery flames(H)
the fiercest of all.(c)
7
Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If a man were to give all his wealth(d) for love,(I)
it would be utterly scorned.
8
B Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.(J)
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?
9
If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.(e)(K)
10
W I am(f) a wall
and my breasts like towers.
So in his eyes I have become
like one who finds peace.(g)
11
Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon.(L)
He leased the vineyard to tenants.(M)
Each was to bring for his fruit
1,000 pieces of silver.(N)
12
I have my own vineyard.(h)(O)
The 1,000 are for you, Solomon,
but 200 for those who guard its fruits.
13
M You(i) who dwell in the gardens—
companions(P) are listening for your voice—
let me hear you!(Q)
14
W Hurry to me, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.(R)

Footnotes:

a. Song of Solomon 8:1: Lit Would that you were like a brother to me
b. Song of Solomon 8:2: LXX adds and into the chamber of the one who bore me
c. Song of Solomon 8:6: Or the blaze of the Lord
d. Song of Solomon 8:7: Lit all the wealth of his house
e. Song of Solomon 8:9: Vv. 8-9 may record what the girl’s brothers used to say.
g. Song of Solomon 8:10: In Hb, the word for peace sounds similar to Solomon and Shulammite.
h. Song of Solomon 8:12: Lit My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; Sg 1:6
i. Song of Solomon 8:13: In Hb, the word for You is feminine.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.