8 “Oh that you were like a brother to me
Who nursed at my mother’s breasts.
If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you;
No one would despise me, either.
² I would lead you and ^(A)bring you
Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me;
I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates.
³ Let ^(B)his left hand be under my head,
And his right hand embrace me.”

⁴ “^(C)Swear to me, you daughters of Jerusalem:
^[a]Do not disturb or awaken my love
Until she pleases.”

⁵ “^(D)Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?”

“Beneath the ^(E)apple tree I awakened you;
There your mother went into labor with you,
There she was in labor and gave birth to you.
⁶ Put me like a seal over your heart,
Like a ^(F)seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
^[b](G)Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flames are flames of fire,
^[c]The flame of the Lord.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers flood over it;
^(H)If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,
It would be utterly despised.”

⁸ “We have a little sister,
And she ^(I)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 barricade her with ^(J)planks of cedar.”

¹⁰ “I was a wall, and ^(K)my breasts were like towers;
Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.
¹¹ Solomon had a ^(L)vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He ^(M)entrusted the vineyard to ^(N)caretakers.
Each one was to bring a ^(O)thousand shekels of silver for its ^(P)fruit.
¹² My very own vineyard is ^[d]at my disposal;
The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”

¹³ “You who sit in the gardens:
My ^(Q)companions are listening for your voice—
^(R)Let me hear it!”

¹⁴ “^[e]Hurry, my beloved,
And be ^(S)like a gazelle or a young ^[f]stag
On the ^(T)mountains of balsam trees!”

“^(Q)Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,
^[i]When I will bring about ^(R)a new covenant
With the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
^9 (S)Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day I took them by the hand
To bring them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care about them, says the Lord.
^10 (T)For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, declares the Lord:
^[j]I will put My laws into their minds,
And write them ^(U)on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
^11 (V)And they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen,
And each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For ^(W)they will all know Me,
From ^[k]the least to the greatest of them.
^12 (X)For I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings,
^(Y)And their sins I will no longer remember.”