NRSV Song 8 Chapter
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8:1
O that you were like a brother to me, who nursed at my mother's breast! If I met you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
8:2
I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of the one who bore me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates.
8:3
O that his left hand were under my head, and that his right hand embraced me!
8:4
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!
8:5
Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.
8:6
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.
8:7
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.
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
8:10
I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who brings peace.
8:11
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
8:12
My vineyard, my very own, is for myself; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred!
8:13
O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it.
8:14
Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices!