Hoheslied 8 | New International Reader’s Version

1 ‘I wish you were like a brother to me. I wish my mother’s breasts had fed you. Then if I found you outside, I could kiss you. No one would look down on me. 2 I’d bring you to my mother’s house. She taught me everything I know. I’d give you spiced wine to drink. It’s the juice of my pomegranates. 3 Your left arm is under my head. Your right arm is around me. 4 Women of Jerusalem, make me a promise. Don’t stir up love. Don’t wake it up until it’s ready.’ The other women say, 5 ‘Who is this woman coming up from the desert? She’s leaning on the one who loves her.’ The woman says to the king, ‘Under the apple tree I woke you up. That’s where your mother became pregnant with you. She went into labour, and you were born there. 6 Hold me close to your heart where your royal seal is worn. Keep me as close to yourself as the bracelet on your arm. My love for you is so strong it won’t let you go. Love is as powerful as death. Love’s jealousy is as strong as the grave. Love is like a blazing fire. Love burns like a mighty flame. 7 No amount of water can put it out. Rivers can’t sweep it away. Suppose someone offers all their wealth to buy love. That won’t even come close to being enough.’ The woman’s brothers say, 8 ‘We have a little sister. Her breasts are still small. What should we do for our sister when she gets engaged? 9 If she were a wall, we’d build silver towers on her. If she were a door, we’d cover her with cedar boards.’ The woman says to the king, 10 ‘I am a wall. My breasts are like well-built towers. So in your eyes I’ve become like someone who makes you happy. 11 Solomon, you had a vineyard in Baal Hamon. You rented your vineyard to others. They had to pay 12 kilograms of silver for its fruit. 12 But I can give my own vineyard to anyone I want to. So I give my 12 kilograms of silver to you, Solomon. Give 2.5 kilograms to those who take care of its fruit.’ The king says, 13 ‘My love, you live in the gardens. My friends listen for your voice. But let me hear it now.’ The woman says, 14 ‘Come away with me, my love. Be like an antelope or like a young deer on mountains that are full of spices.’

English Standard Version

Longing for Her Beloved

1 Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. 2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. 3 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! 4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. 5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on 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. 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy* is fierce as the grave.* Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he* would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

8 Others: 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? 9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. 10 She: I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds* peace. 11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. 12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. 13 He: O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. 14 She: Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

Hoheslied 8 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Longing for Her Beloved

Final Advice