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Journey of a Passage

Song of Songs 4:12–5:1

The garden enclosed and the invitation

"A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed" (4:12); an orchard (pardes) of pomegranates and every spice (vv. 13–15); then her voice: "Let my beloved come into his garden" (v. 16); and his: "I am come into my garden" (5:1). Where her words end and his begin is debated; the library's Greek and the Vulgate put "let my beloved come into his garden" at the start of their 5:1.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The poem as first composedUnknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Song (Asma)
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (proposals from the 10th to the 3rd century BC)

    The poem as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of the Song are four Qumran manuscripts: 4Q106, 4Q107, 4Q108 (Cave 4) and 6Q6 (Cave 6), late 1st century BC to 1st century AD (reported).

  2. Jerome c. AD 390s, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Hortus conclusus soror mea, sponsa, hortus conclusus, fons signatus. Emissiones tuæ paradisus malorum punicorum, cum pomorum fructibus, cypri cum nardo. Nardus et crocus, fistula et cinnamomum, cum universis lignis Libani; myrrha et aloë, cum omnibus primis unguentis. Fons hortorum, puteus aquarum viventium, quæ fluunt impetu de Libano. Surge, aquilo, et veni, auster: perfla hortum meum, et fluant aromata illius.

    Latin numbering: Song 4:12–16. Jerome translated the Song from Hebrew (c. AD 390s); the Clementine edition prints the title outside the verses and joins English 1:1-2. "Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum" opens the Vulgate's 5:1.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The poem as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    גַּ֥ן ׀ נָע֖וּל אֲחֹתִ֣י כַלָּ֑ה גַּ֥ל נָע֖וּל מַעְיָ֥ן חָתֽוּם׃ שְׁלָחַ֙יִךְ֙ פַּרְדֵּ֣ס רִמּוֹנִ֔ים עִ֖ם פְּרִ֣י מְגָדִ֑ים כְּפָרִ֖ים עִם־נְרָדִֽים׃ נֵ֣רְדְּ ׀ וְכַרְכֹּ֗ם קָנֶה֙ וְקִנָּמ֔וֹן עִ֖ם כָּל־עֲצֵ֣י לְבוֹנָ֑ה מֹ֚ר וַאֲהָל֔וֹת עִ֖ם כָּל־רָאשֵׁ֥י בְשָׂמִֽים׃ מַעְיַ֣ן גַּנִּ֔ים בְּאֵ֖ר מַ֣יִם חַיִּ֑ים וְנֹזְלִ֖ים מִן־לְבָנֽוֹן׃ ע֤וּרִי צָפוֹן֙ וּב֣וֹאִי תֵימָ֔ן הָפִ֥יחִי גַנִּ֖י יִזְּל֣וּ בְשָׂמָ֑יו יָבֹ֤א דוֹדִי֙ לְגַנּ֔וֹ וְיֹאכַ֖ל פְּרִ֥י מְגָדָֽיו׃

    A locked garden is my sister, bride, a locked spring, a sealed fountain (v. 12)… Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits (v. 16)

    Hebrew numbering: Song 4:12–16.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

  5. Greek translation 1st century BC – 1st century AD (debated); French 1872

    Greek Song of Songs (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Song (Asma)

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Ma sœur, mon épouse, est un jardin enclos; c’est un jardin enclos, une fontaine scellée. Tes rejetons forment un jardin de grenades avec les fruits du noyer, des grappes en fleur et du nard, Du nard et du safran, de la canne et du cinnamome, de tous les arbres du Liban, de la myrrhe, de l’aloès, et des parfums les plus exquis. La fontaine de ce jardin est un puits d’eau vive, qui jaillit du Liban. Fuis d’ici, vent du nord; viens, vent du midi, souffle sur mon jardin, et que mes parfums en découlent.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Song 4:12–16. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). Giguet also inserts speaker labels such as (Épouse) and (Époux); these are interpretation, not Greek text. A C check needs a critical Greek edition. The line "let my beloved come into his garden" stands in the file's 5:1.

What changed, and why

Gan na'ul (locked garden) and ma'yan chatum (sealed spring): exclusivity and privacy, and an image of her body and self. The Vulgate's hortus conclusus and fons signatus became Marian symbols in medieval Christianity.

Pardes (4:13) is the Persian loanword for a park (Nehemiah 2:8; Ecclesiastes 2:5). The spice list (henna, nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, aloes) is a catalogue of imported luxuries.

Verse division differs: English 4:16 contains both her call to the winds and "let my beloved come into his garden"; the Greek and Latin attach the second line to 5:1. This is a division of verses, not of text.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedPardes is a Persian loanword.
  • Independently documentedGreek and Latin divide 4:16–5:1 differently.
  • Independently documentedThe Vulgate's hortus conclusus became a Marian symbol.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Song of Songs 4: A Garden Enclosed →The man praises the woman from head to breast in a sequence of images: dove's eyes behind her veil, hair like goats streaming down Gilead, teeth like shorn ewes, lips like scarlet thread, temples like pomegranate halves, a neck like David's tower hung with shields, breasts like twin fawns; "thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee" (4:1–7). He calls her from Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions (v. 8). She has "ravished" his heart with one glance (v. 9); her love is better than wine, her lips drip honey (vv. 10–11). She is "a garden inclosed… a spring shut up, a fountain sealed," an orchard of pomegranates and every spice (vv. 12–15). She answers: "Awake, O north wind… Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (v. 16).
    • Investigation: The Garden and Its Fragrances →The Song names more plants and aromatics than any other book of the Bible: some native (pomegranate, fig, vine, palm, henna, lily), some imported from Arabia, Africa and India (myrrh, frankincense, nard, cinnamon, calamus, aloes-wood, saffron). This investigation identifies what can be identified, says which names are uncertain, and explains the trade behind the luxury.
    • Investigation: The Song's Afterlife →For most of its history the Song has been read as a song of divine love: God and Israel in Judaism; Christ and the church, or Christ and the soul, in Christianity. This investigation sets the main readers in order, with dates, so that later interpretations are not projected back onto the ancient poem and the poem is not stripped of its long religious life.