reliance placed in someone or something, and by extension the thing relied on and the safety it brings
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This word is the noun built from the common verb "to trust" (בָּטַח). Because trust always leans toward something, the noun naturally covers three connected ideas: the reliance a person feels, the thing that person relies on, and the safety that reliance is meant to bring.
The three shade into one another, and context decides which is in view. When Jeremiah says the LORD is a person's confidence, the word points to God as the one leaned on; when Proverbs speaks of setting your trust in the LORD, it names the inner reliance itself; when it promises "strong security" to those who fear the LORD, it describes the settled safety that follows.
Much of the Bible's use of the word is a contest over where confidence is placed. Job's false comfort is called a spider's web; Moab trusted in Bethel; Israel leaned on Egypt; a rich man made gold his security. Against all of these stands the repeated blessing on the person whose confidence is the LORD.
Nuances
1athe object of trust: the person or thing someone leans on to keep them safe
The Hebrew usually ties the confidence to a concrete object: an ally, a fortress, a treasure, or the LORD.Psa 40:4Jer 48:13
Both
Both name a settled assurance that one is secure.Pro 14:26
Only confidence
English "confidence" drifts toward self-assurance, an inner mood that need not rest on anything outside the person.
“security”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“hope”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How mivtaḥ differs from similar Hebrew words
בֶּטַחsafety or security itself, most often used to say people live "in safety"; it names the safe condition, while this word centers on the reliance that produces it and the thing relied on.
Names the object of reliance, the thing or person one leans on, whether the LORD himself or a false substitute like gold or a fortressJer 17:7Job 31:24Pro 21:22
Names the inward attitude of confidence a person places, the act of relying rather than the safety that resultsPro 14:26Pro 22:19Psa 71:5
Exposes misplaced confidence, what collapses the moment it is leaned on, when reliance rests on the wrong thingJob 8:14Pro 25:19Jer 48:13
Both
Both belong to the same trust family and carry the same double edge: each is real and lasting only when it rests on the LORD, and hollow when it rests on wealth, idols, or human strengthJer 23:6Psa 40:4
Names the resulting condition of safety itself, the settled state of being secure, most often in the phrase to dwell or walk in safetyDeu 33:28Lev 25:19Pro 3:23
Describes untroubled, unsuspecting ease: living without fear, sometimes carelessly and off guard, so it can shade into false complacencyJdg 18:7Isa 47:8Ezk 38:11
Marks the covenant future in which God resettles his people so they live secure and unafraid in the landEzk 34:25Jer 33:16Hos 2:18
מַחְסֶהa shelter or place of refuge you flee to for cover; a physical or pictured hiding place, whereas this word is the confidence placed in such a protector.
Names the trust or reliance itself, and the object a person leans on, not any place. It asks what someone is actually counting on for security.Psa 40:4Jer 17:7Pro 22:19
Repeatedly exposes a misplaced confidence that fails the one who holds it: riches, an unreliable person, a foreign alliance, or a rival god as flimsy as a spider's web.Job 31:24Pro 25:19Jer 2:37Job 8:14
Both
Both name the LORD as the security of his people, the settled ground on which the faithful rest, and Proverbs pairs them in one breath.Pro 14:26Psa 40:4Psa 46:1
Both are turned in judgment oracles toward a false object that collapses when tested, whether a trusted nation or a shelter built of lies.Ezk 29:16Isa 28:15
Names a concrete shelter from the weather, a covert from storm, rain, and scorching heat that a person or even an animal runs into.Isa 4:6Isa 25:4Job 24:8Psa 104:18
Pictures God himself as a place to flee into for safety from attack, set alongside images of a rock, a fortress, and a strong tower.Psa 46:1Psa 91:2Psa 61:3Psa 142:5
תִּקְוָהhope: a forward-looking expectation of what is still to come, while this word is a present reliance one already rests in (the two stand together in Psalm 71:5).
Names the thing or person one is leaning on right now, the ground where reliance is already lodged, whether that is the LORD, gold, or an idol.Psa 40:4Jer 17:7Job 31:24
Describes a settled sense of security in the present, the feeling of being safe and unshaken now, rather than an outcome still awaited.Pro 14:26Isa 32:18
Both
Both can name confidence set on the LORD as the one relied on, and in one verse they stand side by side confessing him.Psa 71:5Jer 17:7Psa 62:5
Both can describe a false assurance that comes to nothing once the object behind it fails.Job 8:14Jer 48:13Job 8:13Pro 11:7
Names a future outcome one waits for, which can either arrive or be dashed, so it is repeatedly said to be cut off, to perish, or to endure.Pro 23:18Job 7:6Psa 9:18
Can be a literal cord or line, as with the scarlet cord Rahab tied in her window, a concrete sense the other word never carries.Jos 2:18Jos 2:21
Points forward to one's coming end or later days, the good yet to unfold on the far side of the present.Jer 29:11Jer 31:17
כֶּסֶלconfidence that often carries a shadow of false or foolish assurance; it stands parallel to this word in Job but leans toward misplaced self-reliance.
Points to the one trusted rather than to the feeling of trusting: the LORD made a person's refuge and reliance, the standard word for rightly resting one's confidence on him.Psa 40:4Psa 71:5Jer 17:7Pro 22:19
Repeatedly names the concrete thing a nation or person leans on, a stronghold, an idol shrine, or a foreign ally, and then announces its ruin when God tears it down.Pro 21:22Jer 48:13Ezk 29:16Jer 2:37
Can name the security or safety that trust produces, the settled state of being safe, not only the act of trusting.Isa 32:18Pro 14:26
Both
Both name the ground of a person's confidence, and both are used of trust that collapses. In Job 8:14 they stand side by side (one man's confidence is cut off while his trust is a spider's web), and in Job 31:24 Job denies ever making gold his confidence or fine gold his trust.Job 8:14Job 31:24
Names the inward confidence a person holds, the hope or assurance of the heart set on God. It is a poetic wisdom word that shares its spelling with the term for folly, so such settled confidence can also curdle into complacent self-assurance.Psa 78:7Pro 3:26
mivtaḥ in the other biblical languages
πεποίθησιςGreek“confidence”the Greek noun for confidence or reliance, the closest counterpart to this word's core idea of leaning on someone.
Names the object relied on itself: the thing, person, or place someone trusts can be called their reliance (gold, Egypt, a shrine), a use the Greek word never carries.Job 31:24Ezk 29:16Jer 48:13
Shades into the security that reliance produces, a safe stronghold or settled place of refuge.Isa 32:18Pro 21:22
Both
Both name the posture of confident reliance and hold up God as the only worthy object of it.Psa 40:42Co 3:4
Both expose misplaced confidence as ruinous folly, whether it rests on wealth and nations or on human standing.Job 8:14Php 3:4
Names only the inner disposition of confidence itself, the settled assurance a person holds, and never the object relied on.2Co 1:152Co 3:4
Confidence as the ground for bold action and free access, the assurance that lets a person speak plainly or approach without fear.2Co 10:2Eph 3:12
ἐλπίςGreek“hope”hope: confident expectation, which the Greek Old Testament often uses to render this word, though it tilts toward the future rather than present reliance.
Names the present object relied on right now: the thing or person in which security is actually placed, whether wealth, an ally, or God himself.Job 31:24Ezk 29:16
Exposes a misplaced ground of security that collapses: the false confidence rested in that proves worthless when tested.Job 8:14Pro 25:19Jer 48:13
Both
Both name confidence grounded in God rather than anxious wishing, and the Greek word is a common Septuagint rendering of the Hebrew: the one who makes the LORD his reliance is called blessed, and believers are told their hope rests in God.Jer 17:71Pe 1:21
Each can be addressed to God directly as the sure security of his people, the Hebrew as the trust held from youth and the Greek as the God who is named our hope.Psa 71:51Ti 1:1
Reaches toward a future not yet seen: the confident expectation of what is still to come, so that what is already in hand would no longer be called this.Rom 8:24Tit 2:13
Names the specific content awaited, above all the resurrection of the dead and the glory promised to come.Act 23:6Col 1:27
Stands as one of the three abiding Christian virtues, ranked alongside faith and love.1Co 13:131Th 1:3
What scholars say about mivtaḥ
The lexica treat מִבְטָח as a noun formed from the root בטח, denoting confidence and, by extension, both the object of confidence and the resulting security. BDB distinguishes the act of confidence (Proverbs 22:19;Job 31:24), the state of security (Proverbs 14:26;Isaiah 32:18), and the object of confidence (Jeremiah 2:37;Job 8:14;Psalm 71:5); HALOT and DCH group the same range under confidence, that which is trusted, and safety. Prophetic and wisdom texts exploit this range to contrast misplaced confidence in political alliances, wealth, or cult sites with confidence in the LORD.
Sources
BDB, s.v. מִבְטָחlexicon
HALOT, s.v. מִבְטָחlexicon
DCH, s.v. מִבְטָחlexicon
A. Jepsen, "בָּטַח (bāṭaḥ)," TDOT 2:88-94theological-dictionary