Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Song of Solomon 1:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6Look 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse explains sun-darkened skin, brothers' anger, imposed vineyard labor, and neglect of her own vineyard.
Read It With
- Song of Solomon 1:5-6
Read Song of Solomon 1:6 with 1:5-6. This verse explains sun-darkened skin, brothers' anger, imposed vineyard labor, and neglect of her own vineyard. The complete unit establishes this movement: The woman insists on her beauty while naming sun-darkened skin, other women's gaze, angry brothers, imposed vineyard labor, and the cost of being unable to keep her own vineyard.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Before the lovers praise one another, the collection lets the woman name her own beauty and the labor and family pressures behind others' judgment. Within that movement, this verse explains sun-darkened skin, brothers' anger, imposed vineyard labor, and neglect of her own vineyard.
Follow the Context
- She calls herself dark and beautiful.
- Kedar's tents and Solomon's curtains supply contrasting or paired comparisons.
- She asks the daughters not to stare at her sun-darkened skin.
- Her brothers' anger and assigned vineyard work explain lost care of her own vineyard.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“mine own vineyard have I not kept”
In plain language: the speaker was prevented from caring for what was her own
explains sun-darkened skin, brothers' anger, imposed vineyard labor, and neglect of her own vineyard. Her body and work bear the effects of family power, yet her own vineyard remains hers to name.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk requiring the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The brothers' anger does not legitimate coercion, and the vineyard metaphor does not give anyone ownership of her body.
What Remains True
Her body and work bear the effects of family power, yet her own vineyard remains hers to name.
How It Can Shape Life
- Oppose forced labor and family control; ask what care, rest, ownership, or safety the affected person needs.
Teach It Back
Explain Song of Solomon 1:6's contribution to Song of Solomon 1:5-6: explains sun-darkened skin, brothers' anger, imposed vineyard labor, and neglect of her own vineyard. Include what the surrounding lines add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Song of Solomon 1:5-6 — Dark and Beautiful Under the SunSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The vineyard may be literal, bodily, sexual, personal, or deliberately layered.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Song of Solomon 1:5-6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 1:5-6
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: The Song of Songs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1228-1229, translation and notes on 1:5-6
Open source ↗