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(A)He brought me to the banquet hall[a]
    and his glance at me signaled love.
(B)Strengthen me with raisin cakes,[b]
    refresh me with apples,
    for I am sick with love.
(C)His left hand is under my head
    and his right arm embraces me.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:4–6 The banquet hall: the sweet things of the table, the embrace of the woman and man, express the richness of their affection and the intimacy of their love.
  2. 2:5 Raisin cakes: perhaps pastries used in the worship of the fertility goddess (cf. Hos 3:1; Jer 7:18; 44:19). Apples: this is the common translation of a fruit that cannot be identified (cf. 2:3; 8:5); it appears frequently in Sumerian love poetry associated with the worship of the goddess Inanna. Sick: love-sickness is a popular motif in ancient love poetry.