Song of Solomon 2:8–3:5

The Second Song

The Woman

8 I hear my lover’s voice.

He comes running over the mountains,

racing across the hills to me.

9 My lover is

like a gazelle, like a young stag.

There he stands beside the wall.

He looks in through the window

and glances through the lattice.

10 My lover speaks to me.

The Man

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

11 The winter is over; the rains have stopped;

12 in the countryside the flowers are in bloom.

This is the time for singing;

the song of doves is heard in the fields.

13 Figs are beginning to ripen;

the air is fragrant with blossoming vines.

Come then, my love;

my darling, come with me.

14 You are like a dove that hides

in the crevice of a rock.

Let me see your lovely face

and hear your enchanting voice.

15 Catch the foxes, the little foxes,

before they ruin our vineyard in bloom.

The Woman

16 My lover is mine, and I am his.

He feeds his flock among the lilies

17 until the morning breezes blow

and the darkness disappears.

Return, my darling, like a gazelle,

like a stag on the mountains of Bether.d

3 Asleep on my bed, night after night

I dreamt of the one I love;

I was looking for him, but couldn’t find him.

2 I went wandering through the city,

through its streets and alleys.

I looked for the one I love.

I looked, but couldn’t find him.

3 The watchmen patrolling the city saw me.

I asked them, “Have you found my lover?”

4 As soon as I left them, I found him.

I held him and wouldn’t let him go

until I took him to my mother’s house,

to the room where I was born.

5 Promise me, women of Jerusalem;

swear by the swift deer and the gazelles

that you will not interrupt our love.