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Song of Solomon 8:11

in Song of Solomon 8

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; He let out the vineyard unto keepers; Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

KJV

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal–hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

This verse in Song of Solomon 8

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Cyril of Alexandria

FRAGMENTS IN THE COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 8:11 · Written before 444.

The vineyard which, it says, was given to the spiritual Solomon is surely the church. And we have already said that Baal-hamon means "in believers." For who believed, apart from those who accepted his commandments?

This site's exposition

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal–hamon

on Song of Solomon 8:11-12

Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon, let out for a thousand pieces of silver a keeper, stands beside the bride's own: my vineyard, which is mine, is before me. Thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand reads differently under the poem's two castings, and both are named: with Solomon the bridegroom, the lines are playful largess, his wealth conceded while her one vineyard, herself, is given freely; under the shepherd reading held by part of the nineteenth-century bench, they are a refusal, the leased estate against the unpurchasable love of 8:7. The verse's own arithmetic carries either way: what is let out for money is exactly what love is not.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

The Six Days of Creation · Written before 397.

Hence, in the Song of Songs it is said: "I am a wall, and my breasts are towers." The wall is the Church and its towers are the priests, who abound in both the word of nature and moral discipline.

The Medieval Church3 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on the Song of Songs · Written before 735.

proposed

He entrusted it to the keepers, etc. For the keepers of the Church are the prophets, the keepers are the apostles, the keepers are the successors of the prophets and apostles, who in different ages of the world were given to its governance by divine …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on the Song of Songs · Written before 735.

proposed

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-Hamon; he leased the vineyard to keepers; everyone was to bring a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit. My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those who keep its fruit two hundred. …

A commentator

Robert of Tombelaine

Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 8 · Written in the 11th century.

proposed

He himself is said to be our Peaceful One, because through him all the human race is reconciled to God. This Peaceful One had a vineyard, because in the labor of carnal precepts he planted the Synagogue, of which it is said: "The vineyard of …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Baal-hamon - A place not far from Jerusalem. A thousand - Whereby he signifies both the vast extent of the vineyard which required so many keepers, and its singular fertility.
4 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, had a kingdom in the possession of a multitude, a numerous people. As he was a type of Christ, so his vineyard was a type of the church of Christ.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon,.... The little sister, or Gentile church, goes on to give an account of the success of the Gospel, the planting of churches, and the establishment of the interest of Christ in the Gentile world, together with the advantages that accrued to Christ from it; for not Solomon literally, but a greater than he, is here, Christ, the antitype of him, the Prince of peace; See Gill on Son 3:

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Solomon had a vineyard - Calmet translates and paraphrases the Hebrew of these two verses thus: “Son 8:11: Solomon has a vineyard at Baal-hamon: he has let it out to keepers, each of whom for the fruit of it was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. Son 8:12: As for me, my vineyard is before me; that is, it is my own; I am its proprietor. Keep thyself, O Solomon, thy thousand pieces of silver, and let those who dress (thy vineyard) have two hundred for their trouble. I neither envy thee thy vineyard, nor them their profits.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The joint Church speaks of Jesus Christ's vineyard. Transference of it from the Jews, who rendered not the fruits, as is implied by the silence respecting any, to the Gentiles (Mt 21:33-43).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Shlomo had a vineyard. This is the congregation of Yisroel, as it is stated, “For the vineyard of Adonoy, Master of Legions, is the house of Yisroel.” 16 Yeshayahu:7.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Song of Songs 8:11:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כֶּ֣רֶםa vineyard

    keremH375492 times

  • הָיָ֤הit belonged

    hayahH19613559 times

  • לִשְׁלֹמֹה֙to Solomon

    lishlomohH8010291 times

  • בְּבַ֣עַלat Baal-

    bevaalH1174

  • הָמ֔וֹןHamon

    hamonH1174

  • נָתַ֥ןhe gave

    natanH54142011 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַכֶּ֖רֶםthe vineyard

    hakeremH375492 times

  • לַנֹּטְרִ֑יםto <the> [those who] keep

    lanoterimH52019 times

  • אִ֛ישׁeach one

    ʾishH3761663 times

  • יָבִ֥אhe will bring

    yavi'H9352568 times

  • בְּפִרְי֖וֹfor fruit its

    befiryoH6529119 times

  • אֶ֥לֶףa thousand

    ʾelefH505505 times

  • כָּֽסֶף׃silver

    kasefH3701403 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    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…

    it leads to

    • Song of Solomon 8:11–12

      Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased it to the tenants. For its fruit, each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Luke 12:51–53

      Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but division.

  • Through

    Mark 12:1

    Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 5:1–4

      I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

    • Mark 13:34

      It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.

    • Romans 11:17–24

      Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,

    • Mark 4:2

      And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said,

  • Through

    Isaiah 7:23

    And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 5:6

      I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 2:4

    I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 7:1–12

      Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

Where this verse is studied

About Song of Solomon

This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation; Bede, Commentary on the Song of Songs; Cyril of Alexandria, FRAGMENTS IN THE COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 8:11; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; 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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Robert of Tombelaine, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 8.