Song of Solomon 6:8

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The speaker addresses a beloved, contrasting her against a vast royal household of sixty queens, eighty concubines, and uncounted young women.

The words — אֵין (’ein) = there not and מִסְפָּר (mis.par) = a number combine to literally state "there is no number," emphasizing the uncountable crowd.

The thread — The verse’s harem counts parallel 1 Kings 11:3’s record of Solomon’s seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, while the uncounted maidens echo Psalms 45:14’s description of a king’s virgin companions.

Why it lands — The text demands a reader weigh numerical scale against singular worth, recognizing that overwhelming quantity does not diminish unique value.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

שִׁשִּׁ֥יםshi.Shim[are] sixty הֵ֙מָּה֙he.mahthey מְּלָכ֔וֹתme.la.Khotqueens וּשְׁמֹנִ֖יםu./she.mo.Nimand/ eighty פִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑יםpi.lag.Shimconcubines וַעֲלָמ֖וֹתva./'a.la.Motand/ young women אֵ֥ין'einthere not מִסְפָּֽר׃mis.Par[is] a number

King James Version

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

Cross-references

Psalms 45:14 In colorful garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions are brought before you.
1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
2 Chronicles 11:21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
Psalms 45:9 The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.