My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Parallel translations
- WEB My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
- BSB But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
- NKJV My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, And those who tend its fruit two hundred. The Beloved
- NASB “My very own vineyard is at my disposal; The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”
- NLT But my vineyard is mine to give, and Solomon need not pay a thousand pieces of silver. But I will give two hundred pieces to those who care for its vines.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The bride declares that her own vineyard herself is hers to give freely, not Solomon's to lease. Her love and person belong to her beloved by her own glad choice.
Overview
Setting her 'vineyard' against Solomon's commercial one, the bride affirms that she gives herself freely in love rather than being bought or possessed as property. She graciously grants others their due yet keeps her love as her own free gift. The verse exalts the priceless, freely given nature of true love, which no wealth can purchase and no king can simply own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Song 1:6Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
- Acts 20:28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
- 2 Cor 5:15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
- 1 Th 2:19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
- 1 Tim 4:15–16Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
- 1 Tim 5:17–18Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
- 1 Cor 6:20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- Ps 72:17–19His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
- Rom 14:7–9For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
- Prov 4:23Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
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Christ at the center
The poetry of covenant love between bride and bridegroom pictures, at its highest, the love of Christ for his church — the Bridegroom who gave himself for his bride.
How Song of Songs 8:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.