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Song of Songs 1:9–11

A mare among Pharaoh's chariots

"I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots." The Hebrew susati is "my mare" (singular). Chariot teams were stallions; a mare among them would cause a commotion. The compliment is about her effect and adornment, not her shape. The witnesses agree.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The poem as first composedUnknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Song (Asma)
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)

    The poem as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te, amica mea. Pulchræ sunt genæ tuæ sicut turturis; collum tuum sicut monilia. Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi, vermiculatas argento.

    Latin numbering: Song 1:8–10. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    לְסֻסָתִי֙ בְּרִכְבֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֔ה דִּמִּיתִ֖יךְ רַעְיָתִֽי׃ נָאו֤וּ לְחָיַ֙יִךְ֙ בַּתֹּרִ֔ים צַוָּארֵ֖ךְ בַּחֲרוּזִֽים׃ תּוֹרֵ֤י זָהָב֙ נַעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֔ךְ עִ֖ם נְקֻדּ֥וֹת הַכָּֽסֶף׃

    To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots I compare you, my darling

    Hebrew numbering: Song 1:9–11.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

  5. Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872

    Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Song (Asma)

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Ma bien-aimée, je t’ai comparée à mes cavales attelées aux chars de Pharaon. Tes joues, elles sont belles comme la colombe, et ton cou, comme un collier. Nous te ferons des ornements d’or émaillés d’argent.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 1:8–10. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition.

What changed, and why

Egypt was famous for horses and chariots (1 Kings 10:28–29 records Solomon's horse trade with Egypt). Egyptian reliefs show chariot horses with plumes and ornamented harness, which may explain the jewelry of vv. 10–11.

Ra'yati, "my darling," occurs nine times in the Song and only there in the Bible; it is the man's word for the woman.

"We will make thee borders of gold" (v. 11): "we" may be the man with others, or a chorus.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedSusati is singular, "my mare."
  • Independently documentedThe witnesses agree on 1:9–11.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Song of Songs 1: Your Love Is Better Than Wine →The title calls the book "the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's" (1:1). Then, without introduction, a woman speaks: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine" (v. 2). She longs to be drawn after him; "the king hath brought me into his chambers" (v. 4). She tells the daughters of Jerusalem she is "black, but comely" (or "dark and lovely"), darkened by the sun while her brothers made her keep the vineyards (vv. 5–6). She asks where her beloved pastures his flock (v. 7) and receives an answer (v. 8). A man praises her as a mare among Pharaoh's chariots (vv. 9–11); she answers with myrrh, henna and the vineyards of En-gedi (vv. 12–14); the two exchange praise and describe a house of cedar beams (vv. 15–17).
    • Investigation: The Egyptian Love Songs →Egypt's New Kingdom (c. 1300–1100 BC) has left the closest ancient parallels to the Song: love songs on papyri and pottery from Thebes and the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina. Lovers call each other "sister" and "brother," speak in alternating voices, fall sick with love, meet in gardens and compare each other to flowers, perfume and wine. This investigation describes the manuscripts and what the parallels can and cannot show.