1. I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.
2. As a lily among thorns, so is my companion among the daughters.
3. As the apple among the trees of the wood, so is my kinsman among the sons. I desired his shadow, and sat down, and his fruit was sweet in my throat.
4. Bring me into the wine house; set love before me.
5. Strengthen me with perfumes, stay me with apples: for I am wounded with love.
6. His left hand shall be under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
7. I have charged you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the

Comp. Heb. and A. V.

powers and by the virtues of the field, that ye do not rouse or wake my love, until he please.
8. The voice of my kinsman! behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
9. My kinsman is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Baethel: behold, he is behind our wall, looking through the windows, peeping through the

Lit. nets

lattices.
10. My kinsman answers, and says to me, Rise up, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove.
11. For, behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone, it has departed.
12. The flowers are seen in the land; the time of pruning has arrived; the voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land.
13. The fig-tree has put forth its young figs, the vines put forth the tender grape, they yield a smell: arise, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove; yea, come.
14. Thou art my dove, in the shelter of the rock, near the wall: shew me thy face, and cause me to hear thy voice; for thy voice is sweet, and thy countenance is beautiful.
15. Take us the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines put forth tender grapes.
16. My kinsman is mine, and I am his: he feeds his flock among the lilies.
17. Until the day dawn, and the shadows depart, turn, my kinsman, be thou like to a roe or young hart on the mountains of the ravines.