Song of Solomon 1
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
Colloquy of Bride and Friends
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine,
3 your anointing oils are fragrant,
your name is perfume poured out;
therefore the maidens love you.
4 Draw me after you, let us make haste.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
5 I am black and beautiful,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has gazed on me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
8 If you do not know,
O fairest among women,
follow the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your kids
beside the shepherds’ tents.
Colloquy of Bridegroom, Friends, and Bride
9 I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are comely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
12 While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a bag of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of En-gedi.
15 Ah, you are beautiful, my love;
ah, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
16 Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved,
truly lovely.
Our couch is green;
17 the beams of our house are cedar,
our rafters[a] are pine.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 1:17 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Song of Solomon 1
1599 Geneva Bible
An [a]Excellent Song Which Was Solomon’s
1 1 The familiar talk and mystical communication of the spiritual love between Jesus Christ and his Church. 5 The domestical enemies that persecute the Church.
1 Let [b]him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
2 Because of the [c]savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as an ointment poured out: therefore the [d]virgins love thee.
3 [e]Draw me: we will run after thee: the King hath brought me into his [f]chambers: we will rejoice and be glad in thee: we will remember thy love more than wine: the righteous do love thee.
4 I am [g]black, O daughters of Jerusalem, but comely, as the tents of [h]Kedar, and as the [i]curtains of Solomon.
5 Regard ye me not because I am [j]black: for the [k]sun hath looked upon me. The [l]sons of my mother were angry against me: they made me the keeper of the vines: but I [m]kept not mine own vine.
6 Show me, [n]O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest at noon: for why should I be as she that turneth aside to the stocks of [o]thy companions?
7 [p]If thou know not, O thou the fairest among women, get thee forth by the steps of the flock, and feed thy kids by the tents of the shepherds.
8 I have compared thee, O my love, to the troupe of horses in the [q]chariots of Pharaoh.
9 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of stones, and thy neck with chains.
10 We will make thee borders of gold with floods of silver.
11 [r]While the King was at his repast, my spikenard gave the smell thereof.
12 My well-beloved is as a bundle of myrrh unto me: he shall lie between my [s]breasts.
13 My well-beloved is as a cluster of camphire unto me in the vines of En Gedi.
14 My love, behold, thou art [t]fair: behold, thou art fair: thine eyes are like the doves.
15 My well-beloved, behold, thou art fair, and pleasant: also our [u]bed is green.
16 The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are of fir.
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 1:1 Hebrew, a song of songs: so called because it is the chiefest of those 1005, which Solomon made, as is mentioned, I Kings 4:32.
- Song of Solomon 1:1 This is spoken in the person of the Church, or of the faithful soul inflamed with the desire of Christ, whom she loveth.
- Song of Solomon 1:2 The feeling of thy great benefits.
- Song of Solomon 1:2 They that are pure in heart and conversation.
- Song of Solomon 1:3 The faithful confess that they cannot come to Christ, except they be drawn.
- Song of Solomon 1:3 Meaning, the secret joy that is not known to the world.
- Song of Solomon 1:4 The Church confesseth her spots and sin, but hath confidence in the favor of Christ.
- Song of Solomon 1:4 Kedar was Ishmael’s son, of whom came the Arabians that dwelt in tents.
- Song of Solomon 1:4 Which within were all set with precious stones and Jewels.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 Consider not the Church by the outward appearance.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 The corruption of nature through sin and afflictions.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 Mine own brethren, which should have most favored me.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 She confesseth her own negligence.
- Song of Solomon 1:6 The spouse feeling her fault fleeth to her husband only for succor.
- Song of Solomon 1:6 Whom thou hast called to the dignity of pastors, and they set forth their own dreams instead of thy doctrine.
- Song of Solomon 1:7 Christ speaketh to his Church, bidding them that are ignorant, to go to the pastors to learn.
- Song of Solomon 1:8 For thy spiritual beauty and excellency there was no worldly treasure to be compared unto thee.
- Song of Solomon 1:11 The Church rejoiceth that she is admitted to the company of Christ.
- Song of Solomon 1:12 He shall be most dear unto me.
- Song of Solomon 1:14 Christ accepteth his Church, and commendeth her beauty.
- Song of Solomon 1:15 That is, the heart of the faithful, wherein Christ dwelleth by his Spirit.
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.