4:15
In 4:15 the man stopped describing the wonderful plants of the garden (4:13–14). He began to describe the spring inside the garden that gave it water.
4:15a–b
You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water: The phrases a garden spring and a well of fresh water use two different metaphors to express the same meaning. Both phrases describe an abundant source of fresh water that flows out and waters the garden to help the fruits and spices mentioned in 4:13–14 to grow. The water is a metaphor to describe the woman as a source of joy and life.
4:15a
a garden spring: In this verse the man continued to speak to the woman. He compared her to a fountain (or spring) in a garden. In some languages it is necessary to make this comparison explicit, as many English versions do. For example:
You are like a garden fountain (New Century Version)
In Hebrew the word garden is plural, and the phrase a garden spring is literally “a fountain of gardens.” This phrase is a figure of speech to emphasize that the fountain produces abundant water. Another way to translate that meaning is:
You are like many springs that make the garden moist.
spring: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as spring refers to water that flows out from an opening in the ground. This type of spring is often called a “fountain” in English (as in the Revised Standard Version). A spring produces a constant flow of fresh water. This is in contrast to a well where the water stays in one place and can become stagnant. Use a word in your language that refers to a natural spring, not a man-made fountain.
4:15b
a well of fresh water: As in 4:15a, the man continued to speak to the woman. He indicated that she was like a well of fresh water. In an ordinary well, the water does not flow or move, so the water can become dirty and stagnant. The woman is like an unusual well that produces flowing (fresh) water.
The phrase fresh water indicates that the water continues to flow inside the well, as if it were in a stream. It contrasts with water in an ordinary well that does not move or flow. Some scholars suggest that the source of the well is a spring, which causes the water in the well to keep moving.
Some ways to translate a well of fresh water are:
a well of living water (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
a well that has flowing water
-or-
a spring of pure water
4:15c
flowing down from Lebanon: Here the man compared the woman to streams that flow from Lebanon. The author implies that the Lebanon mountains are the source of the best fresh water. (Those mountains were also the source of wonderful fragrances in 4:11c.) Some ways to translate the comparison are:
⌊ You are like⌋a refreshing stream that flows from Lebanon.
-or-
and streams flowing from Lebanon. (New American Standard Bible)
flowing: The word flowing has a similar meaning to “spring” in 4:15a and the well “of fresh water” in 4:15b. The phrase describes this water as being like water that comes down from the Lebanon mountains. It is clear, fresh and flowing.
from Lebanon: Here Lebanon is the source of flowing streams of water. In 4:11 Lebanon was the source of wonderful fragrances.
In 4:8 the man implied that the Lebanon mountains isolated the woman from him. Here the metaphor of the Lebanon mountains changes. The man describes the flowing streams from the Lebanon mountains as a source of life and joy. The reference to Lebanon in 4:8a–b and 4:15 form an inclusio.
Other ways to translate from Lebanon here are:
from the Lebanon Mountains. (Good News Translation)
-or-
down the mountains in Lebanon.
© 2017 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.