I want ¹  to climb the palm tree, ²  and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, ³  and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots! ⁴ 

because of the God of your father, who will help you, ¹  because of the sovereign God, ²  who will bless you ³  with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. ⁴ 

I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you were ¹  my little brother, ²  nursing at my mother’s breasts; if I saw ³  you outside, I could kiss you – surely ⁴  no one would despise me! ⁵ 

Plead earnestly ¹  with your ²  mother (for ³  she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that ⁴  she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, ⁵  and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. ⁶ 

As ¹  he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out ²  to him, “Blessed is the womb ³  that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” ⁴ 

ג (Gimel) Even the jackals ¹  nurse their young at their breast, ²  but my people ³  are cruel, like ostriches ⁴  in the desert.

his body ¹  well nourished, ²  and the marrow of his bones moist. ³ 

Who is the Lord ¹  trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? ²  Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother’s breast! ³ 

and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, dressed in clean bright linen, wearing wide golden belts ¹  around their chests.

You will drink the milk of nations; you will nurse at the breasts of kings. ¹  Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your deliverer, your protector, ²  the powerful ruler of Jacob. ³ 

She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. ¹ 

But why should you be captivated, ¹  my son, by an adulteress, and embrace the bosom of a different woman? ² 

‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ¹  we wailed in mourning, ²  yet you did not weep.’

A great number of the people followed him, among them women ¹  who were mourning ²  and wailing for him.

And ¹  yearn ²  like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, ³  so that by it you may grow up to ⁴  salvation, ⁵ 

and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. ¹  He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt ²  around his chest.

For this is what the Lord says: “Look, I am ready to extend to her prosperity that will flow like a river, the riches of nations will flow into her like a stream that floods its banks. ¹  You will nurse from her breast ²  and be carried at her side; you will play on her knees.

For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses ¹  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ²  We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ³ 

Gather the people; sanctify an assembly! Gather the elders; gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her private quarters. ¹