What Does Song of Solomon 1:9 Mean in the King James?
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew comparison casts the beloved as a singular mare among Pharaoh’s chariots, giving her beauty the force and distinction of a royal scene.
THE MEANING
The beloved is seen through a striking image of motion, beauty, and conspicuous power: a mare amid Pharaoh’s chariots. The comparison gives desire a concrete, almost startling form; she is singled out within the spectacle, not dissolved into it. The address remains intimate even as its image is royal and forceful.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that being cherished means being made small or merely delicate: here the beloved’s presence carries force.
THE ROOT
דִּמִּיתִיךְ
dimmîtîkh
GROWS FROM
דמה
To be like or resemble; in the Piel stem, to compare or liken.
“compared” in this verse is dimmîtîkh. The verb comes from דמה, whose basic sense is resemblance: the speaker makes likeness itself the language of desire. The Hebrew image of a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots gives that likeness vivid presence and force, where the KJV’s “company of horses” can sound more like a group than a singular comparison.
ALSO GROWS
dāmâ: Be like, resemble.
דָּמָה
This Qal form shows the root’s basic sense of likeness beneath the verse’s act of comparison.
dimmâ: Compare, liken.
דִּמָּה
This Piel form shares the verse’s root and makes explicit how the speaker creates the comparison.
THE PATTERN
Love poetry makes the beloved’s presence visible through vivid images drawn from the natural and royal worlds.
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?THE THREAD
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root, דמה (dāmâ, to resemble or compare), found in Song 1:9. The shared root makes comparison itself a thread: here it draws the beloved near through an image, while Isaiah asks where likeness reaches its limit.
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