Song of Solomon 1:6
4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.
5 I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.
7 Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
8 If 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.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.
- KJV
- Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
- WEB
- Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
- ASV
- Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother`s sons were incensed against me; They made me keeper of the vineyards; [But] mine own vineyard have I not kept.
- DARBY
- Look not upon me, because I am black; Because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry with me: They made me keeper of the vineyards; Mine own vineyard have I not kept.
- BLB
- Do not look at me because I [am] black, [for] the sun has gazed upon me. The sons of my mother were hot with me; they set me keeping the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept.
- ÅB
- Se ikke på meg, fordi jeg er så sort, fordi solen har brent meg! Min mors sønner ble vrede på meg, de satte meg til å vokte vingårdene; min egen vingård har jeg ikke voktet.
- OTB
- Ikke se på meg fordi jeg er mørk, For solen har brunet meg. Min mors sønner var sinte på meg; De gjorde meg til vokter av vingårdene, Men jeg har ikke stelt min egen vingård.
- B1930
- Se ikke på mig, fordi jeg er så sort, fordi solen har brent mig! Min mors sønner blev vrede på mig, de satte mig til å vokte vingårdene; min egen vingård har jeg ikke voktet.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Song of Solomon 8:11–12
Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.
Read in contextLuke 12:51–53
Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division.
Read in contextMark 4:6
But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Read in contextJeremiah 12:6
Even your brothers— your own father’s household— even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
Read in contextPsalms 69:8
I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,
Read in contextJob 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
Read in contextMatthew 10:35–36
For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Read in contextLamentations 4:8
But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
Read in context