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.
Parallel translations
- WEB My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
- KJV My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
- 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.”
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 1:6Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
- Acts 20:28Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
- 2 Cor 5:15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
- 1 Th 2:19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
- 1 Tim 4:15–16Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.
- 1 Tim 5:17–18Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
- 1 Cor 6:20for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
- Ps 72:17–19His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Rom 14:7–9For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
- Prov 4:23Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Resources, by level
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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.