StrongerBible

yatsu'a

יָצוּעַ

HebrewH3326“bed, couch, ...”

Appears 8 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 49:41Ki 6:51Ki 6:61Ki 6:101Ch 5:1Job 17:13Psa 63:6(7)Psa 132:3
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeyah-TSOO-ahnoun

What yatsu'a means

1

a bed: the bedding spread out for someone to lie on, a word used only in poetry and heightened speech

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word comes from a verb meaning to spread something out, to lay bedding down (יָצַע), and it never loses that picture. A bed here is not a frame of wood but the thing you spread on the ground and then lie down on. The ancient Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible caught this: almost every time, they reached for a Greek noun built from their own verb "to spread," so the Greek matched not just the meaning but the logic of the Hebrew.

The word is rare, five appearances in all, and every one is poetry or elevated speech. Israel's ordinary, everyday word for a bed was a different one (מִשְׁכָּב). This one belongs to the heightened language of a dying father's oracle, a sufferer's complaint, and two psalms.

That small handful of verses covers a startling range, because a bed is the most private thing a person has:

  • Jacob curses his eldest son for going up onto his
  • Job says he has made his in the darkness
  • one psalmist remembers God on his through the watches of the night
  • another swears he will not climb onto his until the ark of the LORD is housed

The word itself does not shift meaning across those lines. What shifts is what a bed can stand for: intimacy, death, devotion, and comfort worth giving up.

Nuances

1aa bed a person lies down on, whether the plain bed of a night's rest or a comfortable royal one
TranslatabilityDirect
Psa 63:6(7)Psa 132:3
1ba father's or husband's bed, standing for his marriage and his place as head of the household, so that violating it is an assault on both
Gen 49:41Ch 5:1
Gen 49:4

How to read the last clause of Genesis 49:4. The Hebrew runs roughly, "you went up onto your father's beds; then you defiled, onto my couch he went up." Two things jar. A verb turns up in the third person, "he went up," after two verbs addressed straight to Reuben, and the bed is suddenly called "mine," as though Jacob had begun speaking of himself with no introduction. Because this is the word's weightiest appearance, how the clause is read shapes how the word is understood. A further proposal, published in Vetus Testamentum in 2019, would change only the vowels, giving a bound plural followed by an unmarked relative clause, "the beds of him who went up," which is close to what the ancient Greek version seems to reflect.

  • majorityThe text is sound as it stands: Jacob breaks off in anger and turns from Reuben to the other sons, bursting out "onto my couch he went up," a recognized move in Hebrew poetry; Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50 (Word Biblical Commentary 2, 1994), 471-472; Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (JPS Torah Commentary, 1989), 333-336; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50 (NICOT, 1995), 649; Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan, 2001), 605-608; Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26 (New American Commentary 1B, 2005), 883-894; Richard C. Steiner, Journal of Biblical Literature 129 (2010): 223-224
  • minorityThe third-person verb is a scribal slip, either an accidental repetition of the verb earlier in the line or a marginal note that worked its way into the text, so the clause is damaged and cannot be read as it stands; E. A. Speiser, Genesis (Anchor Bible 1, 1964), 361-366; John Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (International Critical Commentary), 514-518; Hermann Gunkel, Genesis, trans. Mark E. Biddle (Mercer University Press, 1997), 452-458
1cthe bed spread out in the darkness of the grave, an image for lying down in death
Job 17:13
2

the low structure of rooms built out against the outside wall of Solomon's temple, or one of its stacked levels

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested

This is a building term, and it turns up only in the account of Solomon's temple. It describes what was built out against the temple's outer wall all the way around: a low lean-to of rooms, three levels high, each level a little wider than the one beneath it, because the wall was stepped back to carry the beams.

Whether this is really the same word as the poetic word for a bed is an old question. The two are spelled almost alike, and at these three verses the written text even uses the bed spelling while the reading tradition gives the building term. A few lexicons keep them together on the strength of one shared idea, something laid out flat. Most now list them apart, and the ancient Greek translators clearly took them as different words, rendering these verses with words for beams and for sides.

English Bibles do not agree on what to call it. Older versions say "chambers," newer ones "side chambers," "structure," or "annex," and at the middle verse most switch to "story" or "floor," because there the word names one level rather than the whole.

Nuances

2athe lean-to of rooms built out against the temple's outer wall, running all the way around it
1Ki 6:51Ki 6:10
2bone of the three stacked levels of that structure
1Ki 6:6

What scholars say about yatsu'a

The lexica are unanimous on the noun: BDB (426-427) files יָצוּעַ under the root יצע and glosses it "couch, bed (poetry)," listing the five occurrences (Gen 49:4; 1 Chr 5:1; Job 17:13; Ps 63:7 MT; Ps 132:3); HALOT reads it as a substantivized passive participle, "that which has been spread out," and reconstructs Proto-Semitic *wḍʿ with the standard correspondence PS *ḍ to Hebrew צ, Arabic ض, Aramaic ע; DCH IV keeps noun and verb adjacent without cognate data. TDOT has no article on יצע; the noun is treated inside Beyse's מִשְׁכָּב entry (vol. IX) and the שׁכב entry (vol. XIV) as a poetic doublet for "bed" with overtones of the marriage bed and of Sheol. Klein's etymological dictionary supplies the decisive cognate, Arabic وَضَعَ "to place, lay down"; Aramaic יְצַע is the closest structural parallel and shows the extension from spreading a bed to spreading out an argument (hence Modern Hebrew הִצִּיעַ "to propose"). The root is absent from Akkadian, Ugaritic, Ge'ez, and Phoenician, which points to a Central/West Semitic isogloss with the bed-making specialization a Northwest Semitic development. Within Hebrew the root yields the verb יָצַע (four times, Isa 14:11; 58:5; Ps 139:8; Est 4:3, always of spreading bedding, twice of a bed in Sheol) and the hapax מַצָּע (Isa 28:20). LXX renders the noun with στρωμνή in four of five places, a near-calque from στρώννυμι, deviating only at 1 Chr 5:1 where the translator lifted κοίτη τοῦ πατρός from Gen 49:4 LXX; the reservation of στρωμνή for this lemma, against κοίτη for מִשְׁכָּב and κλίνη for מִטָּה/עֶרֶשׂ, indicates translators attuned to the elevated poetic register. Aquila keeps στρωμνή, Symmachus occasionally Hellenizes toward κοίτη, Theodotion aligns with LXX. On the plural יְצוּעַי the consensus is a poetic plural of amplification (GKC §124e; Joüon-Muraoka §136f), against the literal plural of b. Shabbat 55b (which exculpates Reuben) and Dahood's Ugaritic-based reading of Ps 63:7 as the furnishings of a canopied royal bed. On Gen 49:4 the MT is defended by Wenham, Sarna, Hamilton, Waltke, Mathews, and Steiner (who classes the third-person shift as enallage), while Speiser, Skinner, and Gunkel suspect dittography or an intrusive gloss; a 2019 Vetus Testamentum proposal repoints to a construct plural with an unmarked relative clause, close to LXX οὗ ἀνέβης. Commentators are near-unanimous that Reuben's act was a succession claim, citing 2 Sam 3:7; 16:22; 1 Kgs 2:22 and Hittite Laws §190; Gunkel and Westermann add a tribal-aetiology frame. Japhet, Knoppers, Klein, and Williamson treat 1 Chr 5:1 as the Chronicler's explicit transfer of the birthright, filling the gap left at Gen 35:22. At Job 17:13 Clines reads the conditional structure, Dhorme the perfect רִפַּדְתִּי as accomplished, Pope adds Ugaritic Mot-imagery (KTU 1.5 v-vi), and Seow admits the trope as widely attested in the region without positing dependence; Habel and Balentine stress the funereal parody of domesticity. On Ps 63 Tate reads a domestic setting, Kraus and Hossfeld-Zenger a cultic one tied to the night watches. On Ps 132:3 the unique construct chain עֶרֶשׂ יְצוּעָי is matched by LXX κλίνης στρωμνῆς μου; Allen, following Cross and Hillers, allows a pre-exilic Zion-festival setting (with the Gudea of Lagash parallel via Keel), Kraus champions it, and Hossfeld-Zenger argue instead for a post-exilic literary idealization. The Kethiv-Qere at 1 Kgs 6:5, 6, 10 preserves the architectural יָצִיעַ, which BDB, HALOT, and most modern lexica list as a separate lemma while DCH and TWOT (#896a, counting eleven occurrences) keep it unified; LXX μέλαθρα and πλευραί confirm that the ancient translators read a different word.

Where scholars disagree about yatsu'a

Whether the poetic word for a bed and the temple building term of 1 Kings 6 are one word or two. They share a Strong's number, they are spelled almost alike, and at 1 Kings 6:5, 6, and 10 the written consonants match the bed word while the reading tradition gives the building term. The question is whether a single root idea, something laid out flat, stretches to cover both a bed and a lean-to on a wall, or whether the architectural term is an unrelated word that merely looks similar.

  • majorityTwo separate words that happen to resemble each other; the architectural term of 1 Kings 6 is its own lemma, and the ancient Greek version supports this by rendering those verses with words for beams and for sides rather than with its usual word for bedding; BDB, s.v. יָצוּעַ / יָצִיעַ, 426-427; HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), vol. II, s.v. יָצִיעַ
  • minorityOne word covering both, held together by the shared idea of something spread or laid out flat; DCH IV, s.v. יָצוּעַ; TWOT #896a
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. יצע / יָצוּעַ, 426-427lexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), vol. II, s.v. יָצוּעַ and יָצִיעַlexicon
  • DCH IV, s.v. יָצוּעַlexicon
  • TWOT #896atheological-dictionary
  • H.-J. Beyse, מִשְׁכָּב, in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. IXtheological-dictionary
  • שׁכב, in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. XIVtheological-dictionary
  • Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language (Carta, 1987), s.v. יצעlexicon
  • Gregorio del Olmo Lete and Joaquín Sanmartín, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Brill)lexicon
  • Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch, trans. A. E. Cowley, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1910), §124egrammar
  • Paul Joüon and T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2006), §136fgrammar
  • Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16-50 (Word Biblical Commentary 2, 1994), 471-472commentary
  • Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (JPS Torah Commentary, 1989), 333-336commentary
  • Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50 (NICOT, 1995), 649commentary
  • Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan, 2001), 605-608commentary
  • Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26 (New American Commentary 1B, 2005), 883-894commentary
  • Richard C. Steiner, Journal of Biblical Literature 129 (2010): 223-224article
  • E. A. Speiser, Genesis (Anchor Bible 1, 1964), 361-366commentary
  • John Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (International Critical Commentary), 514-518commentary
  • Hermann Gunkel, Genesis, trans. Mark E. Biddle (Mercer University Press, 1997), 452-458commentary
  • Sara Japhet, I and II Chronicles (Old Testament Library, 1993), 132-137commentary
  • Gary N. Knoppers, 1 Chronicles 1-9 (Anchor Bible 12, 2003), 373-385commentary
  • Ralph W. Klein, 1 Chronicles (Hermeneia, 2006), 158-167commentary
  • H. G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles (New Century Bible, 1982), 62-65commentary
  • David J. A. Clines, Job 1-20 (Word Biblical Commentary 17, 1989)commentary
  • Édouard Dhorme, A Commentary on the Book of Job, trans. Harold Knight (Nelson, 1967)commentary
  • Marvin H. Pope, Job, 3rd ed. (Anchor Bible 15, 1973)commentary
  • C. L. Seow, Job 1-21: Interpretation and Commentary (Illuminations, Eerdmans, 2013)commentary
  • Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job (Old Testament Library, 1985)commentary
  • Samuel E. Balentine, Job (Smyth and Helwys, 2006)commentary
  • John E. Hartley, The Book of Job (NICOT, 1988)commentary
  • Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100 (Word Biblical Commentary 20, 1990)commentary
  • Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 60-150 (Continental Commentary, 1993), 475-479commentary
  • Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger, Psalms 2 (Hermeneia, 2005)commentary
  • Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger, Psalms 3 (Hermeneia, 2011), 459-460commentary
  • Mitchell Dahood, Psalms II: 51-100 (Anchor Bible 17, 1968)commentary
  • Mitchell Dahood, Psalms III: 101-150 (Anchor Bible 17A, 1970), 241-244commentary
  • Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, rev. ed. (Word Biblical Commentary 21, 2002), 219-221commentary
  • Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (Norton, 2007)commentary
  • John Goldingay, Psalms (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament, 2007)commentary
  • Frank Moore Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Harvard University Press, 1973), 79-111monograph
  • Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World (Seabury, 1978), 269-270monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of יָצוּעַ

m p construct

יְצוּעָי

Job 17:13, Psa 63:6, Psa 132:3

m s absolute

יָּצִיעַ, יָצִיעַ

1Ki 6:6, 1Ki 6:10, 1Ki 6:5

m p construct

יְצוּעֵי

1Ch 5:1

m s construct

יְצוּעִי

Gen 49:4