Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 8:12
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses Solomon, contrasting her direct claim over her vineyard with the leased arrangement described in the preceding verse. The exchange occurs within a sustained agricultural metaphor examining ownership, rent, and stewardship.
The words — לְנֹטְרִים (lenotrim) translates literally to “to those who keep” or tend, while כַּרְמִי (karmi) means “my vineyard.” The text uses these terms to distinguish direct personal cultivation from contracted labor.
The thread — The stewardship language echoes Song 1:6, where the speaker is called a keeper of vineyards, and anticipates the pastoral command in Acts 20:28 to keep watch over the flock. Both passages treat guarding cultivated land or people as a defined responsibility.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to distinguish between delegated management and personal accountability. It demands an honest assessment of who actually receives the yield of one’s own labor.
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
King James Version
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Cross-references
- Song of Solomon 1:6 Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have neglected.
- Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
- Psalms 72:17 May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.
- Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- Romans 14:7 For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.
- 1 Corinthians 6:20 you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- 2 Corinthians 5:15 And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:19 After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?
- 1 Timothy 4:15 Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.
- 1 Timothy 5:17 Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.