Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5

English Standard Version

⁸ The voice of my beloved!
    Behold, he comes,
leaping ^(A)over the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like ^(B)a gazelle
    or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
    behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
    looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me:
^(C)“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
    and come away,
¹¹ for behold, the winter is past;
    ^(D)the rain is over and gone.
^12 (E)The flowers appear on the earth,
    the time of singing^[a] has come,
and the voice of ^(F)the turtledove
    is heard in our land.
^13 (G)The fig tree ripens its figs,
    and ^(H)the vines are in blossom;
    they give forth fragrance.
^(I)Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
    and come away.
¹⁴ O my ^(J)dove, in the ^(K)clefts of the rock,
    in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
    let me ^(L)hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is ^(M)lovely.
¹⁵ Catch ^(N)the foxes^[b] for us,
    the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
    ^(O)for our vineyards are in blossom.”

3 On my bed ^(U)by night
I sought ^(V)him whom my soul loves;
    ^(W)I sought him, but found him not.
² I will rise now and go about the city,
    in ^(X)the streets and in the squares;
I will seek ^(Y)him whom my soul loves.
    I sought him, but found him not.
^3 (Z)The watchmen found me
    as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them
    when I found ^(AA)him whom my soul loves.
I ^(AB)held him, and would not let him go
    until I had ^(AC)brought him into my mother's house,
    and into the chamber of ^(AD)her who conceived me.
^5 (AE)I adjure you, ^(AF)O daughters of Jerusalem,
    ^(AG)by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.