Song of Solomon 2:4–16

⁴He brought me to the banquet room,

and his banner over me is love.

⁵Strengthen me with raisins,

and refresh me with apples,

because I am weak with love.

⁶My lover’s left hand is under my head,

and his right arm holds me tight.

The Woman Speaks to the Friends

⁷Women of Jerusalem, promise me

by the gazelles and the deer

not to awaken

or excite my feelings of love

until it is ready.

The Woman Speaks Again

⁸I hear my lover’s voice.

Here he comes jumping across the mountains,

skipping over the hills.

⁹My lover is like a gazelle or a young deer.

Look, he stands behind our wall

peeking through the windows,

looking through the blinds.

¹⁰My lover spoke and said to me,

“Get up, my darling;

let’s go away, my beautiful one.

¹¹Look, the winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

¹²Blossoms appear through all the land.

The time has come to sing;

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

¹³There are young figs on the fig trees,

and the blossoms on the vines smell sweet.

Get up, my darling;

let’s go away, my beautiful one.”

The Man Speaks

¹⁴My beloved is like a dove hiding in the cracks of the rock,

in the secret places of the cliff.

Show me your face,

and let me hear your voice.

Your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch the foxes for us—

the little foxes that ruin the vineyards

while they are in blossom.

The Woman Speaks

¹⁶My lover is mine, and I am his.

He feeds among the lilies