Det er jo min elskede Salomon – eller er det?

Abstract

The new Bible translation, Bibelen 2020, makes biblical books accessible to readers with little prior knowledge of the Bible, in idiomatic, contemporary Danish. However, the article argues that the attempt to make the texts accessible may have problematic consequences when the translation directly reflects one specific interpretation. This is particularly the case in the Song of Songs. Bibelen 2020 indicates the speaker of each passage, and the introduction identifies one female speaker (“Sulamit”) and one male (her beloved “Salomon”). In a very problematic way, this interpretation and the idea that the beloved is “Salomon”, referred to as “king”, have been built into the translation. The article discusses the once popular interpretation of the book as a drama including one woman and two men and argues that elements of such an approach can illuminate important aspects of the text. It is argued that these aspects are largely lost in the translation in Bibelen 2020.