8
Woman:
1 How I wish you were like a brother to me, one who nursed at my mother's breasts! Then if I met you on the street I could kiss you and no one would tell me off. 2 Then I could take you home to my mother's house, where she used to teach me.* I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranate. 3 He supports my head with his left hand, and holds me close with his right. 4 Women of Jerusalem, swear to me that you won't disturb our love until the right time.
Women of Jerusalem:
5 Who is this coming in from the wilderness holding her love close to her?
Woman:
I woke you up under the apple tree where your mother conceived you, and where she gave birth to you.† 6 Stamp my name as a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm,‡ for love is strong as death, passion as unyielding as the grave—its arrows flash like fire, a blazing flame of the Lord. 7 Floods of water cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot submerge it. If a man offered everything he owned in order to buy love he would be completely rejected.
Woman's brothers:
8 We have a younger sister whose breasts are still small. What shall we do for our sister when someone asks to marry her? 9 If she is a wall, we will build a silver tower on it. But if she is a door, we will bar the way with cedar planks.§
Woman:
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So when he looks at me he's happy!*
Woman:†
11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon which he leased to tenant farmers. Each of them paid him one thousand silver coins for the fruit it produced. 12 But I own my vineyard, it is mine alone. One thousand silver coins are for you, Solomon, and two hundred for those who look after it.
Man:
13 My darling, sitting there in the gardens with companions listening to you—please talk to me!
Woman:
14 Come quickly, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young deer on the mountains of spices.
* 8:2 Or “To the room of the one who bore me,” paralleling 3:4. † 8:5 What this means is unclear. ‡ 8:6 As an indication of ownership. § 8:9 Some take the image of the wall as representing virginity, and the door as someone who is promiscuous. In any case, the woman identifies herself as a wall in the following verse, indicating faithfulness in any case. * 8:10 Literally, “Then in his eyes I am as one who brings peace.” The woman is contradicting her brothers and is saying she is mature. † 8:10 Some believe the man is speaking the following verses.