Song of Solomon 4:12 You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

◄ Song of Solomon 4:12 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

English Standard Version
A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

New American Standard Bible
"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.

King James Bible
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden-- a locked garden and a sealed spring.

International Standard Version
My sister, my bride, is a locked garden a locked rock garden, a sealed up spring.

American Standard Version
A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.

Darby Bible Translation
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Young's Literal Translation
A garden shut up is my sister-spouse, A spring shut up -- a fountain sealed.

Cross References

Genesis 29:3
And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again on the well's mouth in his place.

Proverbs 5:15
Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.

Proverbs 5:16
Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

Proverbs 5:18
Let your fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of your youth.

Song of Solomon 4:9
You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

4:8-15 Observe the gracious call Christ gives to the church. It is, 1. A precept; so this is Christ's call to his church to come off from the world. These hills seem pleasant, but there are in them lions' dens; they are mountains of the leopards. 2. As a promise; many shall be brought as members of the church, from every point. The church shall be delivered from her persecutors in due time, though now she dwells among lions, Ps 57:4. Christ's heart is upon his church; his treasure is therein; and he delights in the affection she has for him; its working in the heart, and its works in the life. The odours wherewith the spouse is perfumed, are as the gifts and graces of the Spirit. Love and obedience to God are more pleasing to Christ than sacrifice or incense. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment of his own righteousness, and the righteousness of saints, and perfumed it with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased with it. And Christ walks in his garden unseen. A hedge of protection is made around, which all the powers of darkness cannot break through. The souls of believers are as gardens enclosed, where is a well of living water, Joh 4:14; 7:38, the influences of the Holy Spirit. The world knows not these wells of salvation, nor can any opposer corrupt this fountain. Saints in the church, and graces in the saints, are fitly compared to fruits and spices. They are planted, and do not grow of themselves. They are precious; they are the blessings of this earth. They will be kept to good purpose when flowers are withered. Grace, when ended in glory, will last for ever. Christ is the source which makes these gardens fruitful; even a well of living waters.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

12. The Hebrew has no "is." Here she is distinct from the garden (So 5:1), yet identified with it (So 4:16) as being one with Him in His sufferings. Historically the Paradise, into which the soul of Jesus Christ entered at death; and the tomb of Joseph, in which His body was laid amid "myrrh," &c. (So 4:6), situated in a nicely kept garden (compare "gardener," Joh 20:15); "sealed" with a stone (Mt 27:66); in which it resembles "wells" in the East (Ge 29:3, 8). It was in a garden of light Adam fell; in a garden of darkness, Gethsemane, and chiefly that of the tomb, the second Adam retrieved us. Spiritually the garden is the gospel kingdom of heaven. Here all is ripe; previously (So 2:13) it was "the tender grape." The garden is His, though He calls the plants hers (So 4:13) by His gift (Isa 61:3, end).

spring … fountain—Jesus Christ (Joh 4:10) sealed, while He was in the sealed tomb: it poured forth its full tide on Pentecost (Joh 7:37-39). Still He is a sealed fountain until the Holy Ghost opens it to one (1Co 12:3). The Church also is "a garden enclosed" (Ps 4:3; Isa 5:1, &c.). Contrast Ps 80:9-12. So "a spring" (Isa 27:3; 58:11); "sealed" (Eph 4:30; 2Ti 2:19). As wives in the East are secluded from public gaze, so believers (Ps 83:3; Col 3:3). Contrast the open streams which "pass away" (Job 6:15-18; 2Pe 2:17).