Song of Songs 8
8
Wishing
[Woman]
1If only you were as my brother—
the one who nursed at my mother’s breast.
I would find you in the street and kiss you,
and no one would shame me for it.
2I would lead you, I would bring you
to my mother’s house;
she would teach me what to do.#8.2 Or you would teach me; LXX, Syr to my mother's house, and to the chamber of the one who conceived me (cf 3:4)
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
some of my fresh pomegranate juice.
3His left arm is beneath my head,
and his right embraces me!
4Make a solemn pledge,
daughters of Jerusalem,
never to rouse, never to arouse love
until it desires.
Love, strong and invaluable
[Daughters of Jerusalem]
5Who is this coming up from the wilderness
leaning against her lover?
[Woman]
Under the apple tree I aroused you—
there, where your mother labored with you,
there where, laboring, she bore you.
6Set me as a seal over your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is as strong as death,
passionate love unrelenting as the grave.#8.6 Heb Sheol
Its darts are darts of fire—
divine flame!
7Rushing waters can’t quench love;
rivers can’t wash it away.
If someone gave
all his estate in exchange for love,
he would be laughed to utter shame.
[The Woman’s Brothers]
8Our sister is small;
she has no breasts.
What will we do for our sister
on the day that she is spoken for?
9If she is a city wall,
then we will build a turret of silver on her.#8.9 Or on it (the city wall)
And if she is a door,
then we will barricade her#8.9 Or it (the door) with a panel of cedar.
[Woman]
10I’m a city wall,
and my breasts are the towers.
So now I’m in his eyes
as one who brings peace.
[Man]
11Solomon had a vineyard
in Baal-hamon.
He gave charge of the vineyard to keepers;
one would bring in exchange for its fruit
a thousand pieces of silver.
12My vineyard, my very own, is before me.
You can have the thousand, Solomon#8.12 Cf 1 Kgs 11:3—
with two hundred for those who tend the fruit!
13You who sit in the gardens,
my companions are listening for your voice.
Let me hear it!
[Woman]
14“Take flight, my love,
and be like a gazelle
or a young stag
on the mountains of spice!”
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Song of Songs 8: CEB
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