Song of Solomon 1:5

I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
black	שְׁחוֹרָ֤ה she.cho.Rah	H7838	properly · adjective, feminine singular absolute
comely	וְֽנָאוָ֔ה ve.na.Vah	H5000	suitable · conjunction + adjective, feminine singular absolute
daughters	בְּנ֖וֹת be.Not	H1323	a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · noun, common feminine plural construct
Jerusalem	יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם ye.ru.sha.Lim	H3389	Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
tents	כְּאָהֳלֵ֣י ke.'o.ho.Lei	H168	a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Kedar	קֵדָ֔ר ke.Dar	H6938	Kedar · proper noun, a man's name
curtains	כִּירִיע֖וֹת ki.ri.'ot	H3407	a hanging (as tremulous) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
Solomon	שְׁלֹמֹֽה she.lo.Moh	H8010	Shelomah · proper noun, a man's name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sw…
Luke 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
Psalms 120:5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
Song of Solomon 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he pleas…
Song of Solomon 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Song of Solomon 4:3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Song of Solomon 1:5

I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,.... The church having obtained of Christ, what she wanted, turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, the same perhaps with the virgins her companions; they seem to be young converts, it may be not yet members of the visible church, but had a great respect for the church, and she for them; and who, though they had but a small knowledge of Christ her beloved, yet were desirous of knowing more of him, and seeking him with her; see Sol 3:9; to these she gives this character of herself, that she was "black" in herself (x), through original sin and actual transgression; in her own eyes, through indwelling sin, and many infirmities, spots, and blemish…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 1:5-11

If the Song is a three-character drama and the shepherd is her lover, the couple was apart while she was in the king’s palace, and in this passage she wants to be sure of where to find him when she leaves there. On two occasions, she is frantic about losing him again (3:1-4; 5:2-8). At other times, her concern is more subtle (2:14). 1:5-6 The woman’s dark skin color has nothing to do with her race; her complexion has been darkened by the sun. Even so, she retains her self-respect and asserts her beauty. She is wholesome-looking from tending vineyards and goats (see also 1:8). • Solomon had caretakers of his fields, vineyards, herds, and flocks; the herders lived in dark goats’-hair tents.

Rashi on Song of Solomon 1:5

I am black but comely, etc. You, my friends, let me not be light in your eyes. Even if my husband has left me because of my blackness, for I am black because of the tanning of the sun, but I am comely with the shape of beautiful limbs. Though I am black like the tents of Keidar, which are blackened because of the rains, for they are always spread out in the wilderness, I am easily cleansed to become like the curtains of Shlomo. The allegory is: The congregation of Yisroel says to the nations, “I am black in my deeds [i.e., sins], but I am comely by virtue of the deeds of my ancestors, and even some of my deeds are comely. If I bear the iniquity of the [golden] calf,20According to Targum the…

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The Church Fathers

We read in the Song of Songs of the church which bears the image of the Lord Savior, "I am black and beautiful," that is, black physically and beautiful in heavenly merits. He demonstrates why he used the word beautiful: as Christ put it, the world was reconciled to God through grace. - "Exposition of the Psalms 44.3"
— Cassiodorus,

Concerning the church which bears the image of the Lord Savior, one reads the following passages in Song of Songs: "I am black and beautiful," that is, black with regard to the physical body, but beautiful because of heavenly merits. Then he shows why he used the term beautiful: as Christ says, the world was reconciled to God by grace.
— Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 44:3

In the Song of Songs the bride cries aloud, "I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem"—"black" in the sense of deceived, besmirched by the stench of wild beasts, and "beautiful" in the sense of awaiting for your arrival from heaven as Lord for the sake of my salvation. He suggested at the same time both the gloom of impiety and the charm given by divine grace.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON PSALM 87:3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Black — Properly the absence of all colour. In Prov. 7:9 the Hebrew word means, as in the margin of the Revised Version, “the pupil of the eye.” It is translated “apple” of the eye in Deut. 32:10; Ps. 17:8;…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Kedar — Dark-skinned, the second son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). It is the name for the nomadic tribes of Arabs, the Bedouins generally (Isa. 21:16; 42:11; 60:7; Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:21), who dwelt in the…
Tent — (1.) Heb. ‘ohel (Gen. 9:21, 27). This word is used also of a dwelling or habitation (1 Kings 8:66; Isa. 16:5; Jer. 4:20), and of the temple (Ezek. 41:1). When used of the tabernacle, as in 1 Kings…
Kedar · 2. A nomadic clan of the Ishmaelites — 2. A nomadic clan of the Ishmaelites
Tapestry · In palaces — In palaces
Tents · Of the Jews contrasted with those of the Arabs — Of the Jews contrasted with those of the Arabs
Woman · Of the poorer classes swarthy from exposure to the sun — Of the poorer classes swarthy from exposure to the sun

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).