I am black and beautiful

Again the Bride answers the young women: I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. She is indeed beautiful, and I can find how the Bride is beautiful; but we ask how she is black and without brightness, yet fair. She has done penance for sins; conversion has granted her beauty, and therefore she is sung as beautiful. Yet because she is not yet cleansed of every stain of sins, not yet washed unto salvation, she is called black — but she does not remain in that dark color; she becomes white as well. So when she rises to greater things and begins to climb from low things to high, it is said of her: Who is this who comes up whitened? I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem. And you, churchman, turn your speech to the daughters of Jerusalem and say: the Bridegroom loves me more and cherishes me more than you, who are many daughters of Jerusalem; you stand outside and see the Bride entering the chamber.