Song of Solomon 6:8
in Song of Solomon 6There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And virgins without number.
KJV
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
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This verse in Song of Solomon 6
Commentary
13 notes on this verseThere are threescore queens - Though there be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, or secondary wives, and virgins innumerable, in my harem, yet thou, my dove, my undefiled, art אצת achath, One, the Only One, she in whom I delight beyond all.
This site's exposition
There are threescore queens
on Song of Solomon 6:8-9
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number sets a court's whole company beside her, and the number functions in the poem as a foil for what comes next rather than as a claim to be reckoned against any history. My dove, my undefiled is but one answers the crowd with singularity, she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her, uniqueness measured against multitude rather than against any rival. The daughters saw her, and blessed her, yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her closes the verse with the court itself confirming the claim, praise coming even from those who might have had reason to withhold it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
In the present verse, therefore, three orders of merit are indicated to be in the church according to the following enigma. First, clearly, there are teachers, living an immaculate life. Second, there are the teachable, who imitate the lives of their teachers and burn with …
Let us examine why on earth he mentioned "sixty queens" but "eighty concubines." The number sixty contains six tens, and while the ten signifies perfection, the six represents the number of the world's creation: in six days the God of all formed the whole creation. …
Scripture recounts that some of the patriarchs had many wives at the same time; others took other wives when previous wives had died. The purpose of this is to indicate figuratively that some can exercise many virtues at the same time; others cannot begin those which follow before they have brought the former virtues to perfection. Accordingly, Solomon is reported to have had many wives at the same time.
A commentator
Augustine of HippoON EIGHTY-THREE VARIED QUESTIONS 55 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
The word queens refers to the souls that rule in the realm of the intelligible and spiritual. The word concubines [refers] to the souls that receive an earthly reward, concerning whom it is said, "They have received their reward."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
Robert of TombelaineCommentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 6 · Written in the 11th century.
proposed
What is designated by the queens, if not the souls of the saints, who, while they prudently govern their bodies and preside over others, acquire for themselves an eternal kingdom? For there are some in the holy Church who mortify their flesh and afflict it …
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
There are sixty queens, etc. Both queens and concubines indeed approach the king's bed, they bear children for the king, but not both adorn the king's head with a royal diadem. Therefore, both signify souls that adhere to the preaching of truth, and through the …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Solomon represents Christ, except in the women in whom there is no good that can have symbolical meaning. Hence, when it is said in the Canticle: "There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and maidens without number," this does not refer literally to wives: these women …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Threescore - A certain number for an uncertain. The sense seems to be this, there are many beautiful queens and concubines in the world, in the courts of princes, but none of them is to be compared with my spouse.
All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, are nothing, in Christ's account, compared with the church, which is made up of the excellent ones of the earth, the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, and more excellent than their neighbours.
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. In this verse and Son 6:9 the church is commended as she stood related to others; and is compared with them, and preferred to them. The words may be considered either as an assertion, "there are", &c. or as a supposition, "though there be", &c. yet Christ's church is but one, and excels them all.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
threescore--indefinite number, as in So 3:7. Not queens, &c., of Solomon, but witnesses of the espousals, rulers of the earth contrasted with the saints, who, though many, are but "one" bride (Isa 52:15; The one Bride is contrasted with the many wives whom Eastern kings had in violation of the marriage law (1Ki 11:1-3).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁשִּׁ֥ים | shishim | [are] sixty | H8346 → | |
| הֵ֙מָּה֙ | hemah | they | H1992 → | |
| מְּלָכ֔וֹת | melakhot | queens | H4436 → | |
| וּשְׁמֹנִ֖ים | ushemonim | and eighty | H8084 → | |
| פִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑ים | pilagshim | concubines | H6370 → | |
| וַעֲלָמ֖וֹת | vaalamot | and young women | H5959 → | |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מִסְפָּֽר׃ | mispar | [is] a number | H4557 → |
שִׁשִּׁ֥ים[are] sixty
shishimH8346 →
הֵ֙מָּה֙they
hemahH1992 →
מְּלָכ֔וֹתqueens
melakhotH4436 →
וּשְׁמֹנִ֖יםand eighty
ushemonimH8084 →
פִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑יםconcubines
pilagshimH6370 →
וַעֲלָמ֖וֹתand young women
vaalamotH5959 →
אֵ֥יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
מִסְפָּֽר׃[is] a number
misparH4557 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Kings 11:1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 17:17
He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 17:17
Through
2 Chronicles 11:21Rehoboam 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.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 3:2–5
And sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel;
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 11:3
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
- Judges 8:30
Gideon had seventy sons of his own, since he had many wives.
- 2 Samuel 5:13
After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
- 2 Samuel 3:2–5
Through
Psalms 45:9The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 2:19
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne…
- Revelation 21:9
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
- Ephesians 5:26–27
to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
- 1 Kings 2:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Song of Solomon
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Aponius, EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 9:21; Augustine of Hippo, ON EIGHTY-THREE VARIED QUESTIONS 55; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 14; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 11:2; Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 6 and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 6.