Hebrew word · H7838

שָׁחֹר

shachor

black

The basic colour word for black or very dark. It is used of hair (Leviticus 13:31, 37; Song 5:11, 'black as a raven'), of horses (Zechariah 6:2, 6), and, as a verb from the same root, of skin darkened by suffering or illness (Job 30:30, 'my skin turns black'; Lamentations 4:8).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

black

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Song of Songs 1:5

Range of meaning

The basic colour word for black or very dark. It is used of hair (Leviticus 13:31, 37; Song 5:11, 'black as a raven'), of horses (Zechariah 6:2, 6), and, as a verb from the same root, of skin darkened by suffering or illness (Job 30:30, 'my skin turns black'; Lamentations 4:8). It is a description, not a moral word. In Hebrew it does not mean 'sinful' or 'evil'.

Against the English

KJV, NASB 1995, NRSV and NABRE say 'black'. BSB, WEB, NIV, NLT and NJPS say 'dark'. ESV says 'very dark'. 'Black' is the literal colour term but now sounds like a modern racial category. 'Dark' is softer and fits the sun-tan explanation of verse 6, though it can blunt how bold her statement is.

How it drifted

Modern English 'black' as a skin word carries the modern categories of race, which arose in early modern Europe and America. Ancient Israel had no such category. Separately, Christian allegory read 'black' as blackened by sin, a meaning the Hebrew word does not carry.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew Bible usage as above. In verse 6 she adds sheḥarḥōret, a doubled form of the same root. Scholars debate whether this means 'darkish' or 'very dark'. In either case verse 6 gives the cause: 'the sun has gazed on me.' The Septuagint renders it melaina (black), and the Vulgate nigra.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 2

  1. Leviticus 13:31 שָׁחֹ֖ר black

    But if the priest examines the scaly infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days.

  2. Leviticus 13:37 שָׁחֹ֧ר black

    If, however, in his sight the scaly outbreak is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, then it has healed. He is clean, and the priest is to pronounce him clean.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 1:5 שְׁחוֹרָ֤ה [am] black

    I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

    Here: The ordinary Hebrew word for black. It is used of raven-black hair (Song 5:11) and black horses (Zechariah 6:2). It comes first in the sentence for emphasis: 'Black, that's what I am.' Verse 6 says why: the sun has darkened her.

  2. Song of Songs 5:11 שְׁחֹר֖וֹת black

    His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

Zechariah · 2

  1. Zechariah 6:2 שְׁחֹרִֽים׃ black

    The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,

  2. Zechariah 6:6 הַשְּׁחֹרִ֗ים <the> black

    The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.