The Beloved to Her Lover: Tell me, O you whom my heart ¹  loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest ²  I wander around ³  beside the flocks of your companions!

Scarcely ¹  had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him ²  tightly and would not let him go ³  until I brought him to my mother’s house, ⁴  to the bedroom chamber ⁵  of the one who conceived me.

The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind ¹  was dreaming. ²  Listen! ³  My lover ⁴  is knocking ⁵  at the door! ⁶  The Lover to His Beloved: “Open ⁷  for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”

The Maidens about His Beloved: Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? The Beloved to Her Lover: Under the apple tree I aroused you; ¹  there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth. ² 

The Beloved to Her Lover: I am a ¹  meadow flower ²  from Sharon, ³  a lily ⁴  from the valleys.

We ¹  will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver. ² 

Solomon’s ¹  Most Excellent ²  Love Song. ³ 

The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like ¹  a ²  mare ³  among Pharaoh’s stallions. ⁴ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: ¹  Oh, how I wish you ²  would kiss me passionately! ³  For your lovemaking ⁴  is more delightful ⁵  than wine. ⁶ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: Set me like a cylinder seal ¹  over your heart, ²  like a signet ³  on your arm. ⁴  For love is as strong as death, ⁵  passion ⁶  is as unrelenting ⁷  as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, ⁸  it is a blazing flame. ⁹ 

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

May your mouth ¹  be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together. ² 

Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters ¹  cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions ²  to buy love, ³  the offer ⁴  would be utterly despised. ⁵ 

My vineyard, ¹  which belongs to me, ²  is at my disposal alone. ³  The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit.

The Beloved about Her Lover: Listen! ¹  My lover is approaching! ²  Look! ³  Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills!

The Beloved to Her Lover: Until the dawn arrives ¹  and the shadows flee, turn, ²  my beloved – be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain gorges. ³ 

The Maidens to the Beloved: Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned? Tell us, ¹  that we may seek him with you. ² 

The Beloved about Her Lover: He brought me ¹  into the banquet hall, ²  and he looked ³  at me lovingly. ⁴ 

The Beloved to Her Lover: Catch ¹  the foxes ²  for us, the little foxes, ³  that ruin the vineyards ⁴  – for our vineyard is in bloom.

My lover thrust his hand ¹  through ²  the hole, ³  and my feelings ⁴  were stirred ⁵  for him.