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LXX Song of Songs

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 1

1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your breasts are better than wine.⁠ 3 And the smell of your ointments is better than all spices: your name is ointment poured forth; therefore do the young maidens love you. 4 They have drawn you: we will run after you, for the smell of your ointments: the king has brought me into his chamber: let us rejoice and be glad in you; we will love your breasts more than wine: righteousness loves you. 5 I am black, but beautiful, you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Do not look at me, because I am dark, because the sun has looked unfavourably upon me: my mother's sons strove with me; they made me keeper in the vineyards; I have not kept my own vineyard. 7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you tend your flock, where you cause them to rest at noon, so that I do not become as one that is veiled by the flocks of your companions. 8 If you do not know yourself, you fair one among women, go forth by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed your kids by the shepherd's tents. 9 I have likened you, my companion, to my horses in the chariots of Pharaoh. 10 How are your cheeks beautiful as those of a dove, your neck as chains! 11 We will make you figures of gold with studs of silver. 12 So long as the king was at table, my spikenard gave forth its smell.⁠ 13 My relative is to me a bundle of myrrh; he shall lie between my breasts. 14 My relative is to me a cluster of camphor in the vineyards of En Gedi. 15 Look, you are fair, my companion; look, you are fair; your eyes are doves. 16 Look, you are fair, my relative, yes, beautiful, overshadowing our bed. 17 The beams of our house are cedars, our ceilings are of cypress.

Texts in conversation

Compare Song of Solomon 1:2 and LXX Song of Songs 1:2

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Song of Solomon calls a lover’s touch better than wine. The Greek translation reads the Hebrew letters as a different word and translated it “your breasts are better than wine,” change the praise from love to the body.

Passages

Song of Solomon 1:2

Hebrew Bible · Song of Songs
1 Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song. 2 The Beloved to Her Lover: Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. 3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you!
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Song of Solomon

LXX Song of Songs 1:2

Septuagint
1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your breasts are better than wine. 3 And the smell of your ointments is better than all spices: your name is ointment poured forth; therefore do the young maidens love you.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Song of Songs

References

... I render dodim as 'caresses' because 'lovemaking,' which is more precise, often seems awkward in the translation. Dodim always refers to sex acts. (These acts may even be devoid of love, like the dodim the harlot tempts a youth to enjoy [Proverbs 7:18], or the harlotrous couching—mishkab dodim—of which unfaithful Jerusalem is accused [Ezekiel 23:17].) But dodim includes more than sexual intercourse. When the Shulammite praises her lover's dodim in 1:2, she is elaborating on the sweetness of his kisses. When she says, 'We will praise your dodim' in 1:4, she is declaring that she will tell of his kisses and caresses, as she in fact does. The Septuagint mistranslates ddym in this verse and 1:4; 4:10; and 7:13 as 'breasts'. Peshitta translates thus at 4:10 and 7:13. ...
Michael V. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1985), 97.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Song of Solomon 1:2 and LXX Song of Songs 1:2

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