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

New Living Translation
You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.

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

Berean Standard Bible
My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

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

New King James Version
A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed.

New American Standard Bible
“A locked garden is my sister, my bride, A locked spring, a sealed fountain.

NASB 1995
“A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.

NASB 1977
“A garden locked is my sister, my bride, A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.

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

Amplified Bible
“A garden enclosed is my sister, my [promised] bride— A rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.

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

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

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A garden that is enclosed is my sister bride! A garden that is enclosed, a spring that is sealed

Brenton Septuagint Translation
My sister, my spouse is a garden enclosed; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.

Contemporary English Version
My bride, my very own, you are a garden, a fountain closed off to all others.

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

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
My bride, my sister is a garden that is locked, a garden that is locked, a spring that is sealed.

Good News Translation
My sweetheart, my bride, is a secret garden, a walled garden, a private spring;

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

JPS Tanakh 1917
A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Literal Standard Version
A garden shut up [is] my sister-spouse, | A spring shut up—a fountain sealed.

Majority Standard Bible
My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

New American Bible
A garden enclosed, my sister, my bride, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed!

NET Bible
You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

New Revised Standard Version
A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.

New Heart English Bible
A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

Webster's Bible Translation
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

World English Bible
My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

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

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Solomon Admires His Bride
11Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon. 12My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed. 13Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,…

Cross References
Genesis 29:3
When all the flocks had been gathered there, the shepherds would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Proverbs 5:15
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

Proverbs 5:16
Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

Proverbs 5:18
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:

Song of Solomon 4:9
You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your neck.


Treasury of Scripture

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

garden

Song of Solomon 6:2,11
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies…

Proverbs 5:15-18
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well…

Isaiah 58:11
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

inclosed

2 Corinthians 1:22
Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Ephesians 1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

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Bride Enclosed Fountain Garden Inclosed Locked Rock Sealed Shut Sister Sister-Spouse Spouse Spring Stopped Water
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Bride Enclosed Fountain Garden Inclosed Locked Rock Sealed Shut Sister Sister-Spouse Spouse Spring Stopped Water
Song of Solomon 4
1. Christ sets forth the graces of the church
8. He shows forth his love to her
16. The church prays to be made fit for his presence














(12) A garden inclosed.--Comp. with this passage Song of Solomon 4:12-15; Proverbs 5:15; Proverbs 5:21. The closed or walled garden and the sealed fountain appear to have been established metaphors for the pure and chaste wife. For the latter, at least, there is not only the above passage in Proverbs, but a prayer still in use in Jewish marriages: "Suffer not a stranger to enter into the sealed fountain," &c

Verse 12. - A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. We must bear in mind that these words are supposed to be spoken on the journey in the marriage procession. The bride is not yet brought to the royal palace. She is still travelling in the royal palanquin. The idea of a paradise or garden is carried from the beginning of Scripture to the end, the symbol of perfect blessedness. The figure of the closed or shut-up garden represents the bridegroom's delight in the sense of absolute and sole possession - for himself and no other. The language is very natural at such a time, when the bride is being taken from her home. We may compare with the figures here employed those in Proverbs 5:15-20.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
My sister,
אֲחֹתִ֣י (’ă·ḥō·ṯî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 269: Sister -- a sister

my bride,
כַלָּ֑ה (ḵal·lāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3618: Daughter-in-law, bride

[you are] a garden
גַּ֥ן ׀ (gan)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 1588: An enclosure, garden

locked up,
נָע֖וּל (nā·‘ūl)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 5274: To fasten up, with a, bar, cord, to sandal, furnish with slippers

a spring
גַּ֥ל (gal)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1530: Something rolled, a heap of stone, dung, a spring of water

enclosed,
נָע֖וּל (nā·‘ūl)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 5274: To fasten up, with a, bar, cord, to sandal, furnish with slippers

a fountain
מַעְיָ֥ן (ma‘·yān)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4599: A fountain, a source

sealed.
חָתֽוּם׃ (ḥā·ṯūm)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 2856: To seal, affix a seal, seal up


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OT Poetry: Song of Solomon 4:12 A locked up garden is my sister (Song Songs SS So Can)
Song of Solomon 4:11
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