The woman continues to speak

15 There are other men who are like [MET] little jackals/foxes that ruin vineyards;

do not allow those men to attack me.

16 You who love me, I belong to you and you belong to me,

and you experience pleasure when you kiss my lips

like [MET] a shepherd enjoys taking care of his sheep.

17 You who love me, come and be like [SIM] a gazelle or like a young deer on the hills of Bether,

and then flee like a deer at dawn tomorrow morning,

when the darkness fades.

3 All through the night while I lay on my bed,

I longed for the one whom I love.

I desired for him to come,

but he did not come.

2 So I said to myself,

“I will get up now and walk around the city,

through the streets and plazas,

to search for the one whom I love.”

So I got up and searched for him,

but I could not find him.

3 The city watchmen saw me

while they were patrolling/walking around the city.

I asked them,

“Have you seen the one whom I love?”

4 As soon as I walked past them,

I found the one whom I love.

I clung to him and would not let him go

until I had brought him to my mother’s house,

to the room where my mother had conceived me (OR, where I was born).

5 You women of Jerusalem,

solemnly promise me, while the does and gazelles are listening, that you will not

disturb us while we are making love

until we are ready to quit.