Song of Solomon

O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

1I wish you were like my own brother, who nursed at my mother's breast. Then if I met you out in the street, I could kiss you, and no one would look down on me.

2I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

2I would take you by the hand and bring you to my mother's house, where she taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the sweet juice of my pomegranates.

3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

3His left hand is under my head, and his right arm holds me close.

4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

4Women of Jerusalem, promise me this: do not stir up love or wake it before the time is right.

5Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

5Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on the one she loves? I woke you under the apple tree. That is where your mother gave birth to you, where she had the pain of bringing you into the world.

6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

6Hold me close, like a seal pressed over your heart, like a seal worn on your arm. Love is as strong as death. Its jealousy grips as tightly as the grave. Its sparks burn like fire, the fiercest flame of all.

NoteA seal was a small carved stamp used to mark something as your own. People wore one on a cord around the neck or on a ring, so it stayed with them all day.

7Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

7Deep waters cannot put love out. Rivers cannot wash it away. If someone offered everything he owned to buy love, people would only laugh at the offer.

8We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

8We have a little sister, and she is not yet grown. What will we do for her on the day someone asks to marry her?

9If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

9If she is a wall, we will build a silver tower on top of her. If she is a door, we will board her up with cedar planks.

10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

10But I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So in his eyes I became like someone who brings peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He rented it out to farmers. Each one had to pay a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit it grew.

NoteA thousand pieces of silver was a huge sum. It shows the vineyard was worth a great deal.

12My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

12But my own vineyard belongs to me, and I give it as I please. Solomon, keep your thousand pieces, and give two hundred to the workers who tend the fruit.

13Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

13You who live in the gardens, my friends are listening for your voice. Let me hear it too.

14Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

14Hurry to me, my love. Be like a gazelle or a young deer on the mountains full of spices.