Song of Solomon 2
The speaker compares herself to a rose and her beloved to an apple tree, expressing her love and delight in his presence. She longs for his affection and asks him to sustain her with love. The beloved then speaks, urging his love to arise and come away with him, as winter has passed and the time of love has arrived. He asks her to show herself to him, and she responds by asking him to catch the little foxes that spoil their vineyards, symbolizing the threats to their love.
1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.2As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women.3As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste,4He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.5Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!7I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.8The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.10My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,11for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.12The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.13The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.14O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.15Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."16My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.17Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.
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