Song of Solomon 8:11-12, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Song of Solomon 8:11-12
Solomon's Vineyard and the Vineyard That Is Mine
Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon is a rented profit machine
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let it out to keepers; each was to bring a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit. The king's land is extensive, delegated, and priced. Produce moves upward. Keepers exist to deliver a number.
She keeps a vineyard that is hers, in front of her
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me. Thou, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and those who keep its fruit two hundred. She will not fold her self into royal acreage. Silver can continue in the king's account. Her vineyard stays in her sight and in her first-person. The contrast with chapter 1, where brothers made her keep other vineyards and she could not keep her own, is the point of the line.
How this should shape us
Do not lease a person's body, labor, or affection to a richer household because the price looks biblical. Let her keep what is hers in her own sight.
Teach it back
Explain Song of Solomon 8:11-12 in your own words. Include its lyric movement, one material uncertainty, and one coercive or reductive use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Speaker, literal or erotic vineyard, Baal-hamon, payment structure, and whether Solomon is honored or resisted remain disputed. The woman's or speaker's possessive emphasis is unmistakable.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Song of Solomon 8:11-12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 8:11-12
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1260, translation and notes on 8:11-12
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 8:11-12
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 8:11-12
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Song of Solomon 8:11-12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Song of Songs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, speaker-gender signals, wordplay, poetic clauses, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Song.xml, 8:11-12
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: The Song of Songs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, literary, historical, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Song of Songs PDF, printed pp. 1260, translation and notes on 8:11-12
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
The Song of Solomon
Athalya Brenner
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Genre, voice, unit boundaries, anthology and unity questions, garden and body imagery, and Jewish and Christian reception.
Exact location: Brenner, 'The Song of Solomon,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 429-433, unit division and commentary relevant to 8:11-12
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Is the woman in the Song of Songs really that free?
S. S. Ndoga and H. Viviers
HTS Teologiese Studies 56.4, 2000
Supports: Female voice and initiative, mutuality, family and social constraints, and critical alternatives to idealized equality.
Exact location: Ndoga and Viviers, 'Is the woman in the Song of Songs really free?', HTS 56.4 (2000), pp. 1286-1307, especially pp. 1293-1304; applied to 8:11-12
Open source ↗