Song of Songs 2

¹ – I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.

² – As a lily among the thistles, so is my love among the maidens.

³ – As an apple tree among the trees of the orchard, so is my Beloved among the young men. In his longed-for shade I am seated and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

⁴ He has taken me to his banquet hall, and the banner he raises over me is love.

⁵ Feed me with raisin cakes, restore me with apples, for I am sick with love.

⁶ His left arm is under my head, his right embraces me.

⁷ – I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, by the hinds of the field, not to stir my love, nor rouse it, until it please to awake.

⁸ I hear my Beloved. See how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills.

⁹ My Beloved is like a gazelle, like a young stag. See where he stands behind our wall. He looks in at the window, he peers through the lattice.

¹⁰ My Beloved lifts up his voice, he says to me, ‘Come then, my love, my lovely one, come.

¹¹ For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone.

¹² The flowers appear on the earth. The season of glad songs has come, the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land.

¹³ The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my love, my lovely one, come.

¹⁴ My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the cliff, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful.’

¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that make havoc of the vineyards, for our vineyards are in flower.

¹⁶ My Beloved is mine and I am his. He pastures his flock among the lilies.

¹⁷ Before the dawn-wind rises, before the shadows flee, return! Be, my Beloved, like a gazelle, a young stag, on the mountains of the covenant.