5 “aWho is this coming up from the wilderness
Leaning on her beloved?”
“Beneath the bapple tree I awakened you;
There your mother was in labor with you;
There she was in labor and gave you birth.
6 Put me like a seal over your heart,
Like a aseal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
bJealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
The very flame of Yah.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers overflow it;
aIf 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 ahas 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 aplanks of cedar.”
10 “I was a wall, and amy breasts were like towers;
Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.
11 Solomon had a avineyard at Baal‑hamon;
He bgave the vineyard to ccaretakers.
Each one was to bring one dthousand shekels of silver for its efruit.
12 My very own vineyard is before me;
The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”
13 “O you who sit in the gardens,
My acompanions are giving heed to your voice—
bLet me hear it!”
14 “Hurry, my beloved,
And be alike a gazelle or a young stag
On the bmountains of spices.”