Song 2 | EE | STEP | I am a wild flower of Sharon. I am a lily from the valleys.

Song of Solomon 2

Woman

1 I am a wild flower of Sharon.

I am a lily from the valleys.

Man

2 Among other young women, my best friend that I love is like a lily among thorns. ^{▼▼2:2 Sharon is a place near to where the man and the woman live. It is near the sea and it is flat. There is a lot of rain there, so there are many pretty wild flowers. The lily is also a pretty flower but it is very common.} ^{▼▼2:2 The woman is saying that there is nothing special about her. But the man knows that, to him, she is special. She is really lovely. Now other women do not seem beautiful at all.} ^{▼▼2:2 Now the woman talks to her friends again.}

Woman

3 Among the other young men, the man who loves me is like an apple tree.

He is like an apple tree among the trees of the forest.

I love to sit in his shade.

His fruit is sweet.
It tastes nice.

4 He has taken me to the banquet hall.

Everyone can see that he loves me.

5 I am weak with love.

So, give raisins to me to make me strong.
Give apples to me to keep me awake.

6 His left arm is under my head.

His right arm draws me near to him.

7 Daughters of Jerusalem,

please do not cause someone to feel love for another person;
not until he or she wants to.

I am saying this because I really mean it.

I beg you on behalf of the gazelles and the young female deer in the field.

8 Listen! I hear the man who loves me!

Look! He is coming!
He moves quickly across the mountains.

He runs and he jumps. He comes over the hills.

9 The man who loves me is like a gazelle or like a young male deer.

Look! There he is! He is standing behind our wall.

He is looking through the windows.

He is trying to see through the lattice.

10 The man who loves me spoke. He said to me,

‘My beautiful best friend, I love you.
Please get up and come with me.

11 See! The winter is past. The rains have finished.

12 Flowers are appearing in country places.
It is now the season to sing.
Near here, we can hear the lovely sound that the doves are making.

13 The new fruit on the fig trees is growing.

The smell from the flowers on the vines is moving into the air.

My beautiful best friend, I love you.

Please get up and come with me.’

Man

14 You are like a dove that is hiding in a rock.

You are like a dove that is hiding in the mountains.

Show your face to me because it is lovely.

Let me hear your voice because it has a beautiful sound.

15 Catch the foxes for us.

Catch the little foxes that destroy the vineyards.
They destroy our vines when the flowers are appearing. ^{▼▼2:15 When foxes dig holes they may destroy vines. The foxes may mean anyone or anything that stops the man and woman being friends.}

Woman

16 The man who loves me is mine.

And I am his.
He eats slowly among the lilies.

17 My best friend that I love,

turn round until the dawn.

Until the shadows have gone, be like a gazelle.

Or be like a young male deer on the hills of rock.