Oh that thou wert as my brother,
That sucked the breasts of my mother!
When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee;
Yea, and none would despise me.
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house,
{Or, That thou mightest}Who would instruct me;
I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,
Of the {Or, sweet wine}juice of my pomegranate.
His left hand should be under my head,
And his right hand should embrace me.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
{Hebrew: Why should ye stir up? or why &c.}That ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
Until {Or, it Or, she}he please.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple-tree I awakened thee:
There thy mother was in travail with thee,
There was she in travail {Or, and}that brought thee forth.
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy is {Hebrew: hard.}cruel as Sheol;
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
{Or, A most vehement flame}A very flame of {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
{Or, It}He would utterly be contemned.
We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her {Or, battlements}a turret of silver:
And if she be a door,
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.
I {Or, was}am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof
Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken {Or, to}for thy voice:
Cause me to hear it.
{Hebrew: Flee.}Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a {Or, gazelle}roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.
Querverweise zu Hohelied 8,3 Hld 8,3
{Or, Let his left hand be &c.}His left hand is under my head,And his right hand doth embrace me.
The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,And underneath are the everlasting arms.And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,And said, Destroy.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called {That is, My delight is in her}Hephzi-bah, and thy land {That is, Married}Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and {Hebrew: with the joy of the bridegroom.}as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may {Or, cover me Greek: spread a tabernacle over me. See Revelation 7:15.}rest upon me.