| English Standard Version | King James Bible |
| 1Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. | 1O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. |
| 2I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. | 2I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. |
| 3His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! | 3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. |
| 4I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. | 4I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. |
| 5Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor. | 5Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. |
| 6Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. | 6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. |
| 7Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. | 7Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. |
| 8We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? | 8We 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? |
| 9If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. | 9If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. |
| 10I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace. | 10I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. |
| 11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. | 11Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. |
| 12My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. | 12My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. |
| 13O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. | 13Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. |
| 14Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. | 14Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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