Bible Strands
Song of Solomon 4:12
My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses his bride, calling her "my sister, my bride," immediately after describing the sweetness of her lips and the fragrance of her garments. This declaration occurs within a sequence of poetic descriptions celebrating marital intimacy.
The words — The text uses נָע֖וּל (na.'Ul) for "locked" and חָתֽוּם (cha.Tum) for "sealed up" to describe the garden and fountain. These terms emphasize complete enclosure and restricted access.
The thread — The imagery of enclosed water sources parallels Proverbs 5:15's command to drink from one's own cistern, while the theme of exclusive access anticipates Revelation 21:27's restriction of the unclean from the holy city.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to recognize the text's assertion of exclusive marital fidelity before drawing any spiritual application. It establishes that the described intimacy is meant for a single, designated relationship.
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
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
- Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
- 1 Corinthians 6:13 “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
- 1 Corinthians 7:34 and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband.
- Revelation 7:3 “Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
- 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.
- Song of Solomon 6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
- Song of Solomon 6:11 I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.