Original Word: מַבּוּעַ
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: mabbuwa`
Pronunciation: mab-BOO-ah
Phonetic Spelling: (mab-boo'-ah)
KJV: fountain, spring
NASB: springs, well
Word Origin: [from H5042 (נָבַע - utter)]

1. a fountain

fountain, spring

From naba'; a fountain -- fountain, spring.

see HEBREW naba'

Word Origin
from naba
Definition
a spring (of water)
NASB Translation
springs (2), well (1).

מַבּוּעַ noun [masculine] spring of water (Assyrian namba'u Dl ^{HWB 442}, Arabic , Syriac ); — absolute ׳מ Ecclesiastes 12:6; plural construct מַבּוּעֵי מַיִם Isaiah 35:7; Isaiah 49:10 (for returning exiles).

נִבְשָׁן see בשׁן

נגב (√ of following = be dry, parched, Late Hebrew נָגַב, Aramaic נְגוּב, נְגִיב).

Semantic Range and Imagery

מַבּוּעַ evokes the picture of a gushing spring or fountain whose water breaks through the ground and refreshes the surrounding landscape. In the dry geography of Israel, such a source meant life, fertility, permanence, and joyful abundance. Figuratively, Scripture employs the term to portray both the certainty of death (when the source is cut off) and the certainty of divine restoration (when the source is supplied by God).

Occurrences in Scripture

1. Ecclesiastes 12:6 – The Preacher urges his hearers to “Remember your Creator… before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,” portraying human life as a vessel that will inevitably break beside the very source once relied upon. The spring is stable; the fragile pitcher symbolizes the human body returning to dust (12:7).
2. Isaiah 35:7 – In a vision of Zion’s future glory, “the thirsty land” becomes “springs of water.” Here מַבּוּעַ conveys radical transformation: arid wasteland is exchanged for verdant abundance.
3. Isaiah 49:10 – Promising salvation to Zion’s exiles, the Servant says, “He… will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.” The word anchors the covenant promise that God Himself shepherds His people through wilderness to rest.

Theological Significance

• Divine Provision. Each prophetic occurrence grounds the covenant hope that the Lord not only removes former judgments (drought, exile) but actively supplies overflowing life. The God who once judged the land with dryness now reverses that condition by creating springs.
• Mortality and Wisdom. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 places the spring in a poem about aging and death. The constancy of the spring contrasts with the transience of human life, calling for humble remembrance of the Creator before life’s end.
• Eschatological Renewal. Isaiah’s visions connect מַבּוּעַ with the Messianic age. The imagery later reappears in Revelation 7:16-17, where believers “will never again thirst,” and in Revelation 21:6 where the exalted Christ says, “I will give freely to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.” The Old Testament spring thus prefigures the consummated kingdom.

Redemptive-Historical Connections

From Eden’s river (Genesis 2:10) through the water from the rock (Exodus 17:6) to Ezekiel’s temple river (Ezekiel 47:1-12), God repeatedly provides life-giving water. Jesus fulfills this motif when He cries, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). The believer who drinks from Christ receives within “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). מַבּוּעַ therefore finds its ultimate expression in the gospel: the risen Christ, by His Spirit, becomes the inexhaustible fountain for His people.

Historical and Cultural Background

In ancient Israel, settlements clustered around natural springs. Control of a spring often meant control of a region (for example, Abraham’s dispute over wells in Genesis 21). Isaiah’s promises of new springs would thus resonate as tangible evidence of security, prosperity, and divine favor in an arid land.

Application for Ministry

1. Preaching on Ecclesiastes 12: Use the broken pitcher at the spring to expose human frailty and the urgency of repentance before death.
2. Counseling and Comfort: Isaiah 49:10 assures suffering believers that the Lord Himself leads them and meets their deepest needs.
3. Missions and Social Action: Isaiah 35:7 encourages practical expressions of the gospel that bring refreshment—spiritual and physical—to barren places.
4. Worship: Hymns and prayers that celebrate God as the “Fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13) echo the same imagery; corporate worship becomes an occasion to drink afresh from the Word and Spirit.

Implications for Christian Living

• Dependence: Like pilgrims guided to springs, believers daily rely on God’s initiative, not their own resourcefulness.
• Hope: The promise of future abundance sustains endurance amid present dryness.
• Holiness: Just as stagnant cisterns invite pollution, so self-reliance corrupts; the pure spring demands continual return to Christ.

מַבּוּעַ, though appearing only three times, flows through the canon as a quiet yet powerful reminder that life originates, is sustained, and will culminate in the Lord who is “the spring of all our joy” (Psalm 87:7).

הַמַּבּ֔וּעַ המבוע לְמַבּ֣וּעֵי למבועי מַבּ֥וּעֵי מבועי ham·mab·bū·a‘ hammabBua hammabbūa‘ lə·mab·bū·‘ê ləmabbū‘ê lemabBuei mab·bū·‘ê mabbū‘ê mabBueiInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts