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Song of Solomon 1:5-7
Lexham English Bible
Song of Solomon 1:5-7
Lexham English Bible
Maiden’s Self-Description
5 I am black but beautiful,[a] O maidens of Jerusalem,[b]
like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am black, [c]
because the sun has stared at me.
The sons of my mother were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own “vineyard”[d] I did not keep.
Dialogue between Shepherdess and Shepherd
7 Tell me, you whom my heart[e] loves,
where do you pasture your flock,
where do your sheep lie down at the noon?
For why should I be like[f] one who is veiled[g]
beside the flocks of your companions?
Footnotes
- Song of Solomon 1:5 Or “black and beautiful”
- Song of Solomon 1:5 Literally “O daughters of Jerusalem”
- Song of Solomon 1:6 This is figurative for the maiden’s physical appearance; her skin was darkly tanned
- Song of Solomon 1:6 Literally “my vineyard that for me”
- Song of Solomon 1:7 Literally “soul”
- Song of Solomon 1:7 Literally “For to what will I be like”
- Song of Solomon 1:7 The reading of the MT (“like one who is veiled”) is supported by the LXX. However, several ancient versions (Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate, Symmachus) reflect an alternate Hebrew textual tradition in which two letters are transposed, resulting in the reading “like one who wanders about.” This makes good sense contextually, since the maiden does not know where her beloved would be at noon
Lexham English Bible (LEB)
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