< Canticum Canticorum 1 >
2 Osculetur me osculo oris sui: quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino,
Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy loue is better then wine.
3 fragrantia unguentis optimis. Oleum effusum nomen tuum: ideo adolescentulæ dilexerunt te.
Because of the sauour of thy good ointments thy name is as an ointment powred out: therefore the virgins loue thee.
4 Trahe me: post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum. Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua: exultabimus et lætabimur in te, memores uberum tuorum super vinum: recti diligunt te.
Drawe me: we will runne after thee: the King hath brought me into his chabers: we will reioyce and be glad in thee: we will remember thy loue more then wine: the righteous do loue thee.
5 Nigra sum, sed formosa, filiæ Ierusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis.
I am blacke, O daughters of Ierusalem, but comely, as the tentes of Kedar, and as the curtaines of Salomon.
6 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.
Regard ye me not because I am blacke: for the sunne hath looked vpon mee. The sonnes of my mother were angry against mee: they made me the keeper of ye vines: but I kept not mine owne vine.
7 Indica mihi, quem diligit anima mea, ubi pascas, ubi cubes in meridie, ne vagari incipiam post greges sodalium tuorum.
Shewe me, O thou, whome my soule loueth, where thou feedest, where thou liest at noone: for why should I be as she that turneth aside to the flockes of thy companions?
8 Si ignoras te o pulcherrima inter mulieres, egredere, et abi post vestigia gregum, et pasce hœdos tuos iuxta tabernacula pastorum.
If thou knowe not, O thou the fairest among women, get thee foorth by the steps of the flocke, and feede thy kiddes by the tents of the shepheards.
9 Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te amica mea.
I haue compared thee, O my loue, to the troupe of horses in the charets of Pharaoh.
10 Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis: collum tuum sicut monilia.
Thy cheekes are comely with rowes of stones, and thy necke with chaines.
11 Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi, vermiculatas argento.
We will make thee borders of golde with studdes of siluer.
12 Dum esset rex in accubitu suo, nardus mea dedit odorem suum.
Whiles the King was at his repast, my spikenard gaue the smelll thereof.
13 Fasciculus myrrhæ dilectus meus mihi, inter ubera mea commorabitur.
My welbeloued is as a bundle of myrrhe vnto me: he shall lie betweene my breasts.
14 Botrus cypri dilectus meus mihi, in vineis Engaddi.
My welbeloued is as a cluster of camphire vnto me in the vines of Engedi.
15 Ecce tu pulchra es amica mea, ecce tu pulchra es, oculi tui columbarum.
My loue, beholde, thou art faire: beholde, thou art faire: thine eyes are like the doues.
16 Ecce tu pulcher es dilecte mi, et decorus. Lectulus noster floridus:
My welbeloued, beholde, thou art faire and pleasant: also our bed is greene:
17 tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina, laquearia nostra cypressina.
The beames of our house are cedars, our rafters are of firre.