Jamin Bradley

As I was working on my new Song of Songs album, I was struck by the woman’s boldness. She recognized that she was sunburnt and a bit unkept because of all the manual labor she had been doing, but she also acknowledged that she was “נָאוֶה”—which the ESV translates as “lovely.” This really struck a chord with me as I wrote out the allegorical bridge to my song, “Oil Poured Out,” one of my favorite moments on the whole album:

And I am lovely
Though the sun/Son has looked upon me
I am lovely
And though my vineyard isn’t tended
I’m still lovely
So lovely

And won’t you tell me
Oh you whom all my soul loves
Won’t you tell me
Where you are and where you’ll be soon
Won’t you tell me
Please tell me

I’ve spent a lot of my life holding onto a religious identity of “sinful,” or “dirty,” or “unholy.” But over the last few years God has been doing a deep work in me to progressively free me of that and see myself as a Son of God. So for my first tattoo, I join with the sunburnt, unkept woman of the Song and bring her ‎נָאוֶה identity as close as my skin: “Though the Son has looked upon me, I am lovely.”

Many thanks to Liam Morris for the ink!