A nomadic Arab tribe and the region it ranged, in the deserts east and south-east of Israel. Kedar is the second son of ISHMAEL (Genesis 25:13), and the tribe becomes the Bible's standard shorthand for the Arabian nomad: Isaiah counts its glory in bowmen and its years like a hired man's (21:16-17), Jeremiah has Nebuchadnezzar raid it (49:28-33), Ezekiel lists its princes trading sheep with Tyre (27:21). Assyrian records name Qidri among the Arab tribes they fought. ⚠ It enters the Song for one reason: its TENTS, woven from black goat hair, which is what the woman compares her sun-darkened skin to — and she pairs them with the curtains of Solomon's pavilion, so both halves of the comparison are admiring.