Canticum Canticorum 1
2 osculetur me osculo oris sui quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino
Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine,
3 fraglantia unguentis optimis oleum effusum nomen tuum ideo adulescentulae dilexerunt te
Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.
4 trahe me post te curremus introduxit me rex in cellaria sua exultabimus et laetabimur in te memores uberum tuorum super vinum recti diligunt te
Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments. The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the righteous love thee.
5 nigra sum sed formonsa filiae Hierusalem sicut tabernacula Cedar sicut pelles Salomonis
I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 nolite me considerare quod fusca sim quia decoloravit me sol filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me posuerunt me custodem in vineis vineam meam non custodivi
Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath altered my colour: the sons of my mother have fought against me, they have made me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept.
7 indica mihi quem diligit anima mea ubi pascas ubi cubes in meridie ne vagari incipiam per greges sodalium tuorum
Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions.
8 si ignoras te o pulchra inter mulieres egredere et abi post vestigia gregum et pasce hedos tuos iuxta tabernacula pastorum
If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds.
9 equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis adsimilavi te amica mea
To my company of horsemen, in Pharao’s chariots, have I likened thee, O my love.
10 pulchrae sunt genae tuae sicut turturis collum tuum sicut monilia
Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove’s, thy neck as jewels.
11 murenulas aureas faciemus tibi vermiculatas argento
We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.
12 dum esset rex in accubitu suo nardus mea dedit odorem suum
While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.
13 fasciculus murrae dilectus meus mihi inter ubera mea commorabitur
A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts.
14 botrus cypri dilectus meus mihi in vineis Engaddi
A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.
15 ecce tu pulchra es amica mea ecce tu pulchra oculi tui columbarum
Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves.
16 ecce tu pulcher es dilecte mi et decorus lectulus noster floridus
Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is flourishing.
17 tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina laquearia nostra cypressina
The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress trees.
