Song of Solomon 7:11-8:4

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹¹ Come, my beloved,
    let us go forth into the fields,
    and lodge in the villages;
¹² let us go out early to the vineyards,
    and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and over our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
8 O that you were like a brother to me,
    who nursed at my mother’s breast!
If I met you outside, I would kiss you,
    and no one would despise me.
² I would lead you and bring you
    into the house of my mother,
    and into the chamber of the one who bore me.^[a]
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranates.
³ O that his left hand were under my head,
    and that his right hand embraced me!
⁴ I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    do not stir up or awaken love
    until it is ready!