American Standard Version (1901)

Song of Songs 8

1Oh that thou wert as my brother,That sucked the breasts of my mother!When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;Yea, and none would despise me.2I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house,1Who would instruct me;I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,Of the 2juice of my pomegranate.3His left hand should be under my head,And his right hand should embrace me.
4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,3That ye stir not up, nor awake my love,Until 4he please.
5Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple-tree I awakened thee:There thy mother was in travail with thee,There was she in travail 5that brought thee forth.
6Set me as a seal upon thy heart,As a seal upon thine arm:For love is strong as death;Jealousy is 6cruel as Sheol;The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,7A very flame of 8Jehovah.7Many waters cannot quench love,Neither can floods drown it:If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,9He would utterly be contemned.
8We have a little sister,And she hath no breasts:What shall we do for our sisterIn the day when she shall be spoken for?
9If she be a wall,We will build upon her 10a turret of silver:And if she be a door,We will inclose her with boards of cedar.
10I 11am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereofThen was I in his eyes as one that found peace.11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;He let out the vineyard unto keepers;Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.12My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
13Thou that dwellest in the gardens,The companions hearken 12for thy voice:Cause me to hear it.
1413Make haste, my beloved,And be thou like to a 14roe or to a young hartUpon the mountains of spices.

Notes

  1. 8:2Or, That thou mightest↑
  2. 8:2Or, sweet wine↑
  3. 8:4Hebrew Why should ye stir up? or why etc.↑
  4. 8:4Or, it. Or, she↑
  5. 8:5Or, and↑
  6. 8:6Hebrew hard.↑
  7. 8:6Or, A most vehement flame↑
  8. 8:6Hebrew Jah.↑
  9. 8:7Or, It↑
  10. 8:9Or, battlements↑
  11. 8:10Or, was↑
  12. 8:13Or, to↑
  13. 8:14Hebrew Flee.↑
  14. 8:14Or, gazelle↑