6 Set me as a seal on your heart,

as a seal on your arm.  *

For love is as strong as death;  *

jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol.

Love’s flames are fiery flames  *  —

an almighty flame!  *

7 A huge torrent cannot extinguish love;

rivers cannot sweep it away.

If a man were to give all his wealth  * for love,  *

it would be utterly scorned.

9 You have captured my heart,  * my sister,  * my bride.

You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

2 Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your caresses  * are more delightful than wine.  *

3 The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating;  *

your name is perfume poured out.  *

No wonder young women  * adore you.

15 How beautiful you are, my darling.

How very beautiful!

Your eyes are doves.  *

16 How handsome you are, my love.  *

How delightful!

Our bed is verdant;

18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding  * to him."

22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.  *23 And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called "woman,"

for she was taken from man.  *

24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.  *

22 A man who finds a wife finds a good thing  *

and obtains favor from the  Lord.  *

18 Let your fountain be blessed,

and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.  *

19 A loving deer, a graceful doe  *  —

let her breasts always satisfy you;  *

be lost in her love forever.

20 Why, my son, would you lose yourself

with a forbidden woman

or embrace a wayward woman?  *

6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate."

4 Love is patient,  * love is kind. Love does not envy,  * is not boastful, is not arrogant,  *5 is not rude, is not self-seeking,  * is not irritable,  * and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.  *7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures  * all things.

28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,

33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

9 Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. 10 For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm?  *12 And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

15 Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking?  * Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully,  *,* so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his  * youth.

5 "When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.