Song of Solomon 7:6-8:14
English Standard Version
6 (A)How beautiful and (B)pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights![a]
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like (C)clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your (D)mouth[b] like the best wine.
She
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.[c]
The Bride Gives Her Love
11 (G)Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;[d]
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
(H)and see whether the vines have budded,
whether (I)the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 (J)The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
(K)new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Longing for Her Beloved
8 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 (L)bring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you (M)spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 (N)His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 I (O)adjure you, O (P)daughters of Jerusalem,
(Q)that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 (R)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 (S)a seal upon your arm,
for (T)love is strong as death,
(U)jealousy[e] is fierce as the grave.[f]
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very (V)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 (W)house,
he[g] would be utterly despised.
Final Advice
Others
8 We have a little sister,
and she (X)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 (Y)boards of cedar.
She
10 (Z)I was a wall,
and my (AA)breasts were like towers;
then I was in his eyes
as one who finds[h] peace.
11 Solomon had (AB)a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
he (AC)let out the vineyard to (AD)keepers;
each one was to bring for its fruit (AE)a thousand pieces of silver.
12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and (AF)the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
He
13 (AG)O you who dwell in the gardens,
with (AH)companions listening for your voice;
(AI)let me hear it.
She
14 (AJ)Make haste, my beloved,
and be (AK)like a gazelle
or a young stag
on (AL)the mountains of spices.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 7:6 Or among delights
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Hebrew palate
- Song of Solomon 7:9 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew causing the lips of sleepers to speak, or gliding over the lips of those who sleep
- Song of Solomon 7:11 Or among the henna plants
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Or ardor
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Hebrew as Sheol
- Song of Solomon 8:7 Or it
- Song of Solomon 8:10 Or brings out
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.