Song of Songs Chapter 7

A further description of the graces of the Church the spouse of Christ.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps? How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skilful workman. How beautiful are thy steps, etc... By these metaphors are signified the power and mission of the church in propagating the true faith.
2 Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.
3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
4 Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus.
5 Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the channels. Thy head is like Carmel... Christ, the invisible head of his church, is here signified.
6 How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights!
7 Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
8 I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruit thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine: and the odour of thy mouth like apples.
9 Thy throat like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and his teeth to ruminate.
10 I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts.
13 The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Sponsa. Quid videbis in Sulamite, nisi choros castrorum?
Chorus. Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calceamentis, filia principis!
Juncturæ femorum tuorum sicut monilia
quæ fabricata sunt manu artificis.
2 Umbilicus tuus crater tornatilis,
numquam indigens poculis.
Venter tuus sicut acervus tritici vallatus liliis.
3 Duo ubera tua sicut duo hinnuli,
gemelli capreæ.
4 Collum tuum sicut turris eburnea;
oculi tui sicut piscinæ in Hesebon
quæ sunt in porta filiæ multitudinis.
Nasus tuus sicut turris Libani,
quæ respicit contra Damascum.
5 Caput tuum ut Carmelus;
et comæ capitis tui sicut purpura regis
vincta canalibus.
6 Sponsus. Quam pulchra es, et quam decora,
carissima, in deliciis!
7 Statura tua assimilata est palmæ,
et ubera tua botris.
8 Dixi: Ascendam in palmam,
et apprehendam fructus ejus;
et erunt ubera tua sicut botri vineæ,
et odor oris tui sicut malorum.
9 Guttur tuum sicut vinum optimum,
dignum dilecto meo ad potandum,
labiisque et dentibus illius ad ruminandum.
10 Sponsa. Ego dilecto meo,
et ad me conversio ejus.
11 Veni, dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum,
commoremur in villis.
12 Mane surgamus ad vineas:
videamus si floruit vinea,
si flores fructus parturiunt,
si floruerunt mala punica;
ibi dabo tibi ubera mea.
13 Mandragoræ dederunt odorem
in portis nostris omnia poma:
nova et vetera, dilecte mi, servavi tibi.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition