Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Song of Solomon 8:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse contrasts Solomon's vineyard with the speaker's emphatic 'my vineyard, which is mine' and names a distribution.
Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon is a rented profit machine
This verse is one part of that explanation in Song of Solomon 8:11-12. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Song of Solomon 8:11-12
Read Song of Solomon 8:12 with 8:11-12. This verse contrasts Solomon's vineyard with the speaker's emphatic 'my vineyard, which is mine' and names a distribution. The complete unit establishes this movement: Solomon's vineyard yields a large rent through keepers, but the speaker sets 'my vineyard, which is mine' before herself and allocates what Solomon and the keepers may receive.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The collection returns to the vineyard taken from the woman in 1:6 and now lets a speaker claim possession and set terms against a Solomonic economy. Within that movement, this verse contrasts Solomon's vineyard with the speaker's emphatic 'my vineyard, which is mine' and names a distribution.
Follow the Context
- Solomon owns a vineyard at Baal-hamon.
- He leases it to keepers for a thousand pieces of silver each or in total.
- The speaker declares her own vineyard present and hers.
- She names a thousand for Solomon and two hundred for the fruit keepers, whether granting payment, contrasting value, or refusing his claim.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“My vineyard, which is mine”
In plain language: an emphatic first-person claim of possession and authority
contrasts Solomon's vineyard with the speaker's emphatic 'my vineyard, which is mine' and names a distribution. The doubled possessive asserts bodily, erotic, economic, or literal agency against royal scale.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk requiring the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
A spouse, employer, landlord, monarch, or religious leader does not gain the right to price or claim sexual access.
What Remains True
The doubled possessive asserts bodily, erotic, economic, or literal agency against royal scale.
How It Can Shape Life
- Respect people's control over their bodies, work, property, and the terms of any gift.
Teach It Back
Explain how Song of Solomon 8:12 contributes to Song of Solomon 8:11-12. Include what the surrounding lines add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Song of Solomon 8:11-12 — Solomon's Vineyard and the Vineyard That Is MineSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Speaker, literal versus bodily vineyard, tone toward Solomon, and the thousand/two-hundred allocation are disputed.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 ↗