Bible / Song of Songs (Douay: Canticle of Canticles)
Song of Songs (Douay: Canticle of Canticles) 1
World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, the traditional Catholic English Bible. About the translations
1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.
3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
4 Take me away with you. Let’s hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! They are right to love you.
5 I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; for why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?
8 If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.
11 We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver.
12 While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.
16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant.
17 The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
1 Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine,
2 Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.
3 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.
4 I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
5 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.
6 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.
7 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.
8 To my company of horsemen, in Pharao’s chariots, have I likened thee, O my love.
9 Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove’s, thy neck as jewels.
10 We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.
11 While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.
12 A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts.
13 A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.
14 Behold thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves.
15 Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is flourishing.
16 The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress trees.
This chapter in the Catechism
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.