Chapter 2

¹I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. ²As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. ³As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate. ⁴He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me. ⁵Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love. ⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. ⁷I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the, fields, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please. ⁸The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills. ⁹My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices. ¹⁰Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. ¹¹For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. ¹²The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: ¹³The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come: ¹⁴My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely. ¹⁵Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished. ¹⁶My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies, ¹⁷Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.