The young woman continues to address the “daughters of Jerusalem.” Opinions differ as to the meaning of Do not gaze at me. Does this mean she is so lovely that the “daughters” are amazed and “stare” at her (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible)? Or do they look down on her, as Good News Translation and New English Bible suggest: “Do not look down on me”? From the context we learn she is trying to explain her dark color. So we favor the Good News Translation approach. New Jerusalem Bible “take no notice” is quite neutral and ambiguous enough to fit both possibilities.

In the phrase because I am swarthy, the Hebrew connector may be appropriately rendered as because or “that.” Swarthy is from the same root as “black” in the previous verse. It is an unusual reduplicated form, possibly with the sense “blackish.” Good News Translation treats the adjective in a way some may feel is inadequate, “because of my color.” As this can be easily misunderstood to mean any one of a number of skin colors, we advise against following the Good News Translation model here. It is correct to use the word “dark” or “black.” Here again we must use a term that refers to human skin color. It may be that the language only has one term that can serve here, in which case it is perfectly acceptable to repeat the same word as used in the previous verse.

Because the sun has scorched me is parallel to the previous relative clause because I am swarthy. It further states why the young woman is so dark. Scorched represents a Hebrew verb that may mean “see,” “look at” according to Job 20.9; 28.7, and this is how the King James Version (King James Version) translated it, the idea being that she was “looked [shone] on” by the sun. Dahood’s explanation is that the verb scorched comes from the noun meaning “pitch” or “tar” and so means “be black as pitch.” Whatever the background of the word, it is obvious that exposure to the sun has turned her skin dark. If the verb is really “see,” “look at,” then there is a play on the meanings: “don’t look at me” because “the sun looked at me.” But this kind of wordplay will be very difficult to incorporate into the translation. Some languages will readily follow the Hebrew pattern, with sun acting as the subject of the verb (the sun has scorched me), but in others “I” may be a more natural subject: “because I am burned by the sun,” “because I am darkened by the sun,” or “because I am so sunburned.”

In Hebrew this verse is quite poetic. There are two repetitive sounds: sh occurring in four of the first six words, and -i occurring at the end of a word three times in this line, and six more times before the end of the verse. Certainly it will be almost impossible to imitate this repetition of sound in our translation; and even if we could, it may not have the same effect in Hebrew. However, the translator can still try to give a poetic effect. Imitating the repetitive parallel structures may be one way to do this:

• Do not stare at me
because I am black,
because I am darkened by the sun.

In some languages the repetitive “because” will not be appreciated, so:

• Do not stare at me,
because I am black,
darkened by the sun.

• Do not stare at me just because I am black and burned by the sun.

My mother’s sons were angry with me describes her own brothers or half-brothers. Certain languages have special vocabulary for older and younger brothers. Here we have no way of establishing whether the brothers are younger or older, though they may be older if they have authority to give orders. They were angry with the young woman, though no explanation is given for that. It is idle to speculate. We should perhaps make it an independent statement. In Hebrew the word angry is related to the expression “be hot.” In this poetic passage it is again possible that there is a play on words: she was burned by the sun while she was the object of her brothers’ burning anger. Perhaps in some languages this play on words can be expressed and appreciated.

They made me keeper of the vineyards: this line and the next have a chiastic structure.

This structure highlights a contrast, and in some languages a similar patterning will be appreciated. In many African languages, for example, ending a line with one word and beginning the next line with the same one is a well-known poetic device.

Beyond this, the chiastic structure itself may have some special significance. In other writings in the Old Testament, this type of structure often points to key information, a high point in a story, or a central theme. Our task is to determine what is meant here. The first line explains why the young woman is dark; the meaning of the second line is rather uncertain. The emphasis in the Hebrew is on the phrase “My vineyard, which is mine.” The most obvious way of understanding this is that the vineyard refers to the young woman or her body: she was forced to take care of the vineyard, but as a result of her hard work she was not able to care for her own self (meaning her own beauty). This idea is expressed in the Good News Translation translation: “I had no time to care for myself.”

However, the reference to “vineyard” may mean more than it seems to mean at first. In the ancient world this word, along with other terms like “garden” and “field,” had definite sexual overtones. Some have gone so far as to suggest the young woman is no longer a virgin, but this view has not been widely accepted. Others think “not keeping her own vineyard” may mean she has given her heart to her lover; but again this means reading information into the text. Another approach is to see the brothers as over-protective, preventing her from having a lover. This may be behind the rather unusual translation of Bible en français courant: “… they forced me to keep watch over the vines. For my own vine, I don’t want any surveillance!” In other words, “Please don’t interfere with my love life!”

In light of the many possible interpretations that can be given to this line, perhaps the best solution is to translate rather literally. If desired a footnote can be added which points out that “vineyard” can refer to the young woman, with perhaps a deeper sexual meaning present also.

The word vineyard will certainly be a problem for translators in those areas where grapes are not known. As noted earlier “wine” and “vineyard” are key terms in this book, so if the word is not known, a substitute must be found and used consistently throughout. It may be possible to use a general word like “fruit tree” or “fruit-bearing vine,” though this may have none of the hidden meaning that vineyard has.

For translation we can suggest:

• My brothers were angry with me and put me in charge of the vineyards. My own vineyard I could not care for.

However, we may want to retain the wordplay on “keep” or “care for”:

• My brothers were angry at me,
and forced me to keep the vineyards,
but my own vineyard* I have not kept.

A possible footnote can be:
* Interpretations of “vineyard” vary: the woman herself, her love, or her beauty. This word often had sexual overtones.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Zogbo, Lynell. A Handbook on the Book of Song of Songs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1998. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .