7 “^[a]How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
^[b](A)Prince’s daughter!
The curves of your hips are like jewels,
The work of the hands of an artist.
² Your navel is like a round goblet
That never lacks mixed wine;
Your belly is like a heap of wheat,
^[c]Surrounded with lilies.
³ Your ^(B)two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
⁴ Your ^(C)neck is like a tower of ivory,
Your eyes like the pools in ^(D)Heshbon
By the gate of Bath-rabbim;
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
Which looks toward Damascus.
⁵ Your head ^[d]crowns you like ^(E)Carmel,
And the flowing hair of your head is like purple threads;
The king is captivated by your tresses.
⁶ How ^(F)beautiful and how delightful you are,
^[e]My love, with all your delights!
^7 [f]Your stature is like a palm tree,
And your breasts are like its clusters.
⁸ I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree,
I will grasp its fruit stalks.’
Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
And the fragrance of your ^[g]breath like ^(G)apples,
⁹ And your ^[h](H)mouth like the best wine!”

“It ^(I)goes down smoothly for my beloved,
Flowing gently through the lips of those who are asleep.

¹⁰ “^(J)I am my beloved’s,
And his ^(K)desire is for me.
¹¹ Come, my beloved, let’s go out to the ^[i]country,
Let’s spend the night in the villages.
¹² Let’s rise early and go to the vineyards;
Let’s ^(L)see whether the vine has grown
And its buds have opened,
And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.
There I will give you my love.
¹³ The ^(M)mandrakes have given forth fragrance;
And over our doors are all ^(N)delicious fruits,
New as well as old,
Which I have saved for you, my beloved.

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!”

127 Unless the Lord ^(A)builds a house,
They who build it labor in vain;
Unless the Lord ^(B)guards a city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
² It is futile for you to rise up early,
To ^[a]stay up late,
To ^(C)eat the bread of painful labor;
This is how He gives to His ^(D)beloved ^(E)sleep.