Add parallel Print Page Options

The Woman Speaks

I’m dark ·but [or and] ·lovely [beautiful; C she was out in the sun because her brothers forced her to work the fields; v. 6],
    ·women [L daughters] of Jerusalem [C her friends whom she is instructing about love],
    dark like the tents of Kedar [C desert nomads; Gen. 25:13; Jer. 49:28–29],
    like the curtains of ·Solomon [or Salma; C south Arabian desert nomads].
Don’t look at how ·dark [swarthy] I am,
    ·at how dark the sun has made me [L because the sun scorched me].
My ·brothers [L mother’s sons] were angry with me
    and made me ·tend [or guard] the vineyards,
    so I haven’t ·tended [or guarded] my own ·vineyard [C referring to her body]!

Read full chapter

The Bride

“I am black and (A)beautiful,
You (B)daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the (C)tents of (D)Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am [a]dark,
For the sun has tanned me.
My (E)mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me (F)caretaker of the vineyards,
But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 1:6 Or swarthy, blackish