Song of Songs 1:5-8: The Bride Sings, the Lover Answers

One of the most helpful kinds of Biblical commentary are biblical paraphrases. If you read New Living Translation or other similar translations, then you are really reading an interpretive paraphrase of the Bible. The paraphraser makes explicit his or her interpretation of the text. But this is really a commentary. It makes interpretive decisions for you. 

For my devotional study of the Scripture, I will be writing paraphrases of the Bible that accord with my interpretation of the Bible. My goal is to sharpen my understanding of God’s word and help people to understand what the Bible says. Yet I am only providing a paraphrase. Read the Bible for yourself and see if my paraphrase matches the context and meaning of the passage that I translate. 

I continue this series with Song of Songs 1:5-7!

The Bride Sings to the Daughters of Jerusalem

[5] I am dark but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. [6] Do not look at me because I am dark because the sun tanned me. The sons of my mother are angry with me. They assigned me to guard the vineyards. I did not guard my vineyard.

The Bride Sings to Her Love

[7] Tell me whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you make them lie down at noon—lest I be like one who veils herself beside the flock of your companions?

The Lover to the Bride

[8] If you do not know for yourself, oh beautiful one among women, follow the footprints of the flock, and pasture your young-goats among the shepherds’s tents.

Interpretation

The bride proclaimed her love in 1:2–3 before praising the king with a group of people in 1:4. Now, she addresses the daughters of Jerusalem (perhaps the same group who sang in 1:4), lamenting her appearance and her manner of life (1:5–6).

In 1:7, the bride desires to know where her love pastures his flock so that she can see him without having to veil herself. Perhaps she considering exploring his pastureland in disguise (veil herself) to find her love.

In 1:8, the lover tells the bride where to find him. She is to follow the tracks of flock and to make camp near the tends of the shepherds.

Some people read the Song of Songs as a love triangle between the bride, the king, and a shepherd. Song 1:7–8 do seem to support the love triangle reading of Song of Songs. I am not convinced, however. I think as you read through the Song of Songs, it becomes clear that there are only two characters who are romantically involved: the king and the bride. I’ll keep an open-mind in my reading of the song, but this is where I currently stand on the issue.