Passage

Song of Solomon 1.3

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; For thy love is better than wine."

"3. Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as oil poured forth; Therefore do the virgins love thee."

"4. Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee; We will make mention of thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love thee. 5. I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon." (Song of Solomon 1:1-5, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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 us 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." (Song of Solomon 1:1-5, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. The song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. ^{thy: Heb. thy loves}"

"3. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee."

"4. Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. ^{the upright: or, they love thee uprightly} 5. I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." (Song of Solomon 1:1-5, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. The Song of Songs, that [is] Solomon's. 2. Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth, For better [are] thy loves than wine."

"3. For fragrance [are] thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out, thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee!"

"4. Draw me: after thee we run, The king hath brought me into his inner chambers, We do joy and rejoice in thee, We mention thy loves more than wine, Uprightly they have loved thee! 5. Dark [am] I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, As tents of Kedar, as curtains of Solomon." (Song of Solomon 1:1-5, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.