Canticle of Canticles 1

The Douay-Rheims Bible in Bishop Challoner's revision (1749-52), the standard English Bible of the Catholic Church for two centuries, translated from the Latin Vulgate, with the Clementine Vulgate Latin beside each verse. The English is that of Project Gutenberg's electronic text, with Challoner's notes left out; the Latin is the Clementine Vulgate of 1598, with the medieval Glossa Ordinaria commentary of the edition left out. Book names and chapter and verse numbers follow the Vulgate, so the Psalms are numbered as in the Vulgate (Psalm 22 here is Psalm 23 in the King James Version).

1Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine,

Osculetur me osculo oris sui; quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino,

2Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.

fragrantia unguentis optimis. Oleum effusum nomen tuum; ideo adolescentulæ dilexerunt te.

3Draw 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.

Trahe me, post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum. Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua; exsultabimus et lætabimur in te, memores uberum tuorum super vinum. Recti diligunt te.

4I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiæ Jerusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis.

5Do 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.

Nolite me considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol. Filii matris meæ pugnaverunt contra me; posuerunt me custodem in vineis: vineam meam non custodivi.

6Shew 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.

Indica mihi, quem diligit anima mea, ubi pascas, ubi cubes in meridie, ne vagari incipiam post greges sodalium tuorum.

7If 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.

Si ignoras te, o pulcherrima inter mulieres, egredere, et abi post vestigia gregum, et pasce hædos tuos juxta tabernacula pastorum.

8To my company of horsemen, in Pharao’s chariots, have I likened thee, O my love.

Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te, amica mea.

9Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove’s, thy neck as jewels.

Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis; collum tuum sicut monilia.

10We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.

Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi, vermiculatas argento.

11While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.

Dum esset rex in accubitu suo, nardus mea dedit odorem suum.

12A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts.

Fasciculus myrrhæ dilectus meus mihi; inter ubera mea commorabitur.

13A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.

Botrus cypri dilectus meus mihi in vineis Engaddi.

14Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves.

Ecce tu pulchra es, amica mea ! ecce tu pulchra es ! Oculi tui columbarum.

15Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is flourishing.

Ecce tu pulcher es, dilecte mi, et decorus ! Lectulus noster floridus.

16The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress trees.

Tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina, laquearia nostra cypressina.