The Song of Songs 4:12

The Wedding Night: The Delightful Garden

The Lover to His Beloved:

4:12 You are a locked garden, ¹  my sister, my bride;

you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

The Song of Songs 4:16

The Beloved to Her Lover:

4:16 Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind!

Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell. ² 

May my beloved come into his garden

and eat its delightful fruit!

[4:12]  ¹ sn The twin themes of the enclosed garden and sealed spring are highlighted by the wordplay (paronomasia) between the Hebrew expressions גַּן נָעוּל (gan na’ul, “a garden locked up”) and גַּל נָעוּל (gal na’ul, “an enclosed spring”).

[4:16]  ² tn Heb “may flow.”