Song of Solomon 1:9
New International Version
I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses.

New Living Translation
You are as exciting, my darling, as a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions.

English Standard Version
I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

Berean Standard Bible
I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

King James Bible
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

New King James Version
I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.

New American Standard Bible
“To me, my darling, you are like My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

NASB 1995
“To me, my darling, you are like My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

NASB 1977
“To me, my darling, you are like My mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

Legacy Standard Bible
“To a mare of mine among the chariots of Pharaoh I compare you, O my darling.

Amplified Bible
“To me, my love, you are like My [favorite] mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.

Christian Standard Bible
I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

American Standard Version
I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I have compared you to a mare in the chariot of Pharaoh, my kinswoman

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I have likened thee, my companion, to my horses in the chariots of Pharao.

Contemporary English Version
You move as gracefully as the pony that leads the chariot of the king.

Douay-Rheims Bible
To my company of horsemen, in Pharao's chariots, have I likened thee, O my love.

English Revised Version
I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
My true love, I compare you to a mare among Pharaoh's stallions.

Good News Translation
You, my love, excite men as a mare excites the stallions of Pharaoh's chariots.

International Standard Version
My darling, I compare you to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots.

JPS Tanakh 1917
I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

Literal Standard Version
To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared you, my friend,

Majority Standard Bible
I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

New American Bible
To a mare among Pharaoh’s chariotry I compare you, my friend:

NET Bible
The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh's stallions.

New Revised Standard Version
I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

New Heart English Bible
I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.

Webster's Bible Translation
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

World English Bible
I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

Young's Literal Translation
To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Bride Confesses Her Love
8If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds. 9I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. 10Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels.…

Cross References
2 Chronicles 1:16
Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

2 Chronicles 1:17
A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Likewise, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram.

Song of Solomon 1:15
How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

Song of Solomon 2:10
My beloved calls to me, "Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.


Treasury of Scripture

I have compared you, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.

o my

Song of Solomon 2:2,10,13
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters…

Song of Solomon 4:1,7
Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead…

Song of Solomon 5:2
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

to a

1 Kings 10:28
And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.

2 Chronicles 1:14-17
And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem…

Isaiah 31:1
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

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Carriages Chariots Company Compare Compared Comparison Darling Friend Harnessed Horse Horses Joyous Love Pharaoh Pharaoh's Steed
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Carriages Chariots Company Compare Compared Comparison Darling Friend Harnessed Horse Horses Joyous Love Pharaoh Pharaoh's Steed
Song of Solomon 1
1. the church's love unto Christ
5. She confesses her deformity
7. and prays to be directed, to his flock
8. Christ directs her to the shepherd's tents
9. and showing his love to her
11. gives her gracious promises
12. the church and Christ congratulate one another














(9) Company of horses.--So Vulg., equitatus, but Heb. susah more properly = mare, as in LXX., ?? ???? ???. The ground of the comparison is variously understood. Some, offended at the comparison of female beauty to that of a horse, think the rich trappings of a royal equipage suggested it, while on the other hand, the mention of the caparisoned steed may have suggested the reference to the lady's ornaments. But Anacreon (60) and Theocritus (Idyll xviii. 30, 31), and also Horace (Ode iii. 11), have compared female with equine beauty; and an Arab chief would not hesitate to prefer the points of his horse to the charms of his mistress.

Chariots.--The plural shows that the image is general, and with no reference to any one particular equipage. Pharaoh's teams are selected as pre-eminently fine by reputation. The supposition that there is a reference to some present from the Egyptian to the Israelite monarch is gratuitous. The kings of Israel bought their horses and chariots at a high price (1Kings 10:29).

Verse 9. - (Entrance of the bridegroom.) I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots. There can be no reasonable doubt that these words are put into the mouth of the king. The "steed" is in the feminine (סוּסָה); some would point the word with the plural vowels, that is, "to my horses," or a "body of horses." There is no necessity for that. The reference to a particular very lovely mare is more apt and pointed. In 1 Kings 10:26 we read in the LXX. Version of τεσσάρες χιλίαδες θηλειαὶ ἵπποι, which Solomon had for his chariots - fourteen hundred war chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. The Pharaoh chariots were those which the king had imported from Egypt (1 Kings 10:28, 29; 2 Chronicles 9:28). It may be that the reference is to the splendid decoration of the trappings. Delitzsch very rightly sees in such a figure a confirmation of the view that Solomon himself was the author. The horses from Egypt were famed at that time as those of Arabia became afterwards. The names both of horses and chariots in the Egyptian language were borrowed from the Semitic, as they were probably first imported into Egypt by the Hyksos, or shepherd kings. Other examples of the same comparison are found in poetry, as in Horace, Anacreon, and Theocritus. In the last ('Idyl.,' 18:30, 31) occur the following lines, rendered into English verse: -

"As towers the cypress 'mid the garden's bloom,
As in the chariot proud Thessalian steed,
Thus graceful, rose-complexioned Helen moves."
The idea is that of stately beauty and graceful movements. The old commentators see the Divine love of espousals (Jeremiah 2:2), as in the wilderness of the Exodus, and afterwards in the wilderness of the world. The Bible is full of the expression of Divine tenderness and regard for man.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I compare you,
דִּמִּיתִ֖יךְ (dim·mî·ṯîḵ)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - first person common singular | second person feminine singular
Strong's 1819: To compare, to resemble, liken, consider

my darling,
רַעְיָתִֽי׃ (ra‘·yā·ṯî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7474: A female associate

to a mare
לְסֻסָתִי֙ (lə·su·sā·ṯî)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5484: A mare

among Pharaoh’s
פַרְעֹ֔ה (p̄ar·‘ōh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6547: Pharaoh -- a title of Egypt kings

chariots.
בְּרִכְבֵ֣י (bə·riḵ·ḇê)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7393: A vehicle, a team, cavalry, a rider, the upper millstone


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OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 1:9 I have compared you my love (Song Songs SS So Can)
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