11  Come, my beloved,

let us go out into the fields

and lodge in the villages;¹

12  let us go out early to the vineyards

and ^xsee whether the vines have budded,

whether the grape ^yblossoms have opened

and the pomegranates are in bloom.

There I will give you my love.

13  The ^zmandrakes give forth fragrance,

and beside our doors are all ^achoice fruits,

new as well as old,

which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

1  Oh 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.

2  I would lead you and ^bbring 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.

3  ^cHis left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

4  ^dI adjure you, O ^edaughters of Jerusalem,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.