StrongerBible

mot

מוֹט

HebrewH4132“pole, yoke, ...”

Appears 6 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Num 4:10Num 4:12Num 13:23Psa 66:9Psa 121:3Nam 1:13
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeMOHTnoun

What mot means

1

a length of timber that bears weight: the pole two people carry a load on, and the crossbar of a yoke laid over a neck

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is a plain piece of wood, and it is named for how such a piece of wood behaves. Hang a load in the middle of a pole and rest the ends on two sets of shoulders, and it springs and sways with every step. That springing is where the word comes from, and the picture stays close to the surface everywhere it turns up.

One object, three very different loads:

  • the wrapped equipment of the sanctuary, lashed on for the march
  • a single cluster of grapes too heavy for one man to carry back
  • the bar across the neck of a conquered people

The carrying pole is not the same thing as the permanent staves that stayed in the rings of the ark and the table (בַּד). Those were made for their furniture and never taken out. This is the ordinary pole, brought out for covered bundles, and the account of who carried what keeps the two straight.

The last use turns the pole over onto a person. A yoke was not one solid piece: a stiff bar lay across the neck and cords held it in place underneath. This word names the bar, not the whole rig (עֹל) and not the ties (מוֹסֵר). Nahum promises that God will break the bar off Judah's neck and snap the cords, which is the Bible's standard way of announcing the end of forced service. The longer form of this same word (מוֹטָה) is what the prophets reach for again and again when they say it; this shorter form says it once.

Nuances

1aa carrying pole: a length of wood a load is tied to and borne on the shoulders, usually by two people
Num 4:10Num 4:12Num 13:23
1bthe crossbar of a yoke: the timber fastened over a neck that holds its wearer to forced labor, and so a picture of one nation's grip on another
Nam 1:13
2

a slipping: the moment a foot gives way under someone

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintyStrong

Twice in the Psalms the word is not a thing at all but something that happens. Both times it sits inside the same phrase: God does not hand a foot over to slipping. Psalm 66 says it of a whole people brought through hard testing and still on their feet. Psalm 121 says it to a single traveler setting out, watched by a guard who never dozes.

This is the same image as the pole, seen from the other side. A loaded pole sways, and a foot on loose ground slides. The verb behind both (מוּט) is the ordinary word for that giving way, and it is used far more often to deny it than to describe it. Scholars disagree about whether the object and the action are really one word, and about whether this form is the noun at all rather than a form of that verb. Either way the promise is the same, and it is more modest than it first sounds: not that the road is smooth, but that the footing holds.

Psa 66:9Psa 121:3

What scholars say about mot

BDB (pp. 556-557) lists three senses under the masculine noun מוֹט: a shaking or tottering, used with a negative to affirm security (Ps 55:23; 66:9; 121:3); a pole or bar for carrying, "named from springing motion" (Num 4:10, 12; 13:23); and the bar of a yoke (Nah 1:13). HALOT renders the noun "carrying-pole, yoke-bar"; Gesenius (18th ed.) gives Tragstange, Jochstab; DCH (vol. V) treats the noun as its own entry beside the verb and the feminine מוֹטָה. Arnulf Baumann's TDOT article unifies the whole family under the idea of deviation from an accustomed position, of the kind seen in the beam of a scale or the bending of a pole, while conceding the awkward fact that the verb and the two nouns never occur in the same context in the Hebrew Bible; NIDOTTE follows the same unified-root approach. STEPBible tags six occurrences of the noun (Num 4:10, 12; 13:23; Nah 1:13; Ps 66:9; 121:3); BDB additionally assigns Ps 55:23 to the noun, where STEPBible parses the form with the verb.

On the Numbers passages, Levine and Milgrom distinguish this ad hoc portage pole from the permanent staves inserted through the rings of the ark and the table, part of a graded scheme for transporting objects of differing holiness; Milgrom notes that the pole of Num 13:23 is precisely the springing pole from which BDB derives the noun. The Chronicler uses the plural of the feminine noun for the Levites' poles in 1 Chr 15:15. Nahum 1:13 belongs to the yoke-breaking formula whose source text is Lev 26:13 and whose vocabulary reappears in Isa 58:6, 9; Jer 27:2; 28:10-13; Ezek 30:18; 34:27, nearly always with the feminine form. The derivation of the nouns remains contested: Delitzsch and Gerber argued that the verb is denominative from the noun, a position BDB records and rejects in favor of a primary verb; Puffe has more recently argued that the verb means "collapse" rather than "be shaken" and that its connection to the nouns should be severed as homonymy; HALOT independently suggests that the Aramaic, Arabic and Ethiopic cognates traditionally attached here may belong to a distinct root נוט. None of this touches the sense of the noun in the Numbers and Nahum passages, on which there is no disagreement.

Where scholars disagree about mot

Whether the concrete pole and the abstract slipping belong to one word derived from the swaying verb, or should be separated as look-alike words of different origin.

  • majorityOne word: the nouns name objects that sway under load and are derived from the verb meaning to totter or slip, so the pole, the yoke-bar and the slipping all belong together.; BDB, s.v. מוֹט, pp. 556-557; A. Baumann, "מוט mwṭ," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. VIII, pp. 152-158; NIDOTTE (W. VanGemeren, ed.), vol. 2, s.v. מוט
  • minorityThe derivation runs the other way: the verb is formed from the noun, so that to totter originally meant to behave like a shaking pole.; F. Delitzsch, Prolegomena eines neuen hebräisch-aramäischen Wörterbuchs zum Alten Testament (Leipzig, 1886), p. 184; Gerber, Die hebräischen Verba denominativa (1896), pp. 195-196
  • minorityThe verb means to collapse rather than to sway, and its traditional link to the pole nouns should be severed as a case of unrelated words that look alike.; Paul Puffe, "מוט Means 'Collapse,' Not 'Be Shaken,'" Concordia Theological Journal 7:1 (2020): 77-92
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. מוֹט, pp. 556-557lexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. מוֹטlexicon
  • DCH (D. J. A. Clines, ed.), Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. V, s.v. מוֹטlexicon
  • H. Donner et al., Wilhelm Gesenius Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 18th ed., s.v. מוטlexicon
  • A. Baumann, "מוט mwṭ," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. VIII, pp. 152-158theological-dictionary
  • NIDOTTE (W. VanGemeren, ed.), vol. 2, s.v. מוטtheological-dictionary
  • B. A. Levine, Numbers 1-20, Anchor Bible 4A (New York: Doubleday, 1993)commentary
  • J. Milgrom, Numbers, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1990)commentary
  • J. Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27, Anchor Bible 3B (New York: Doubleday, 2001)commentary
  • F. Delitzsch, Prolegomena eines neuen hebräisch-aramäischen Wörterbuchs zum Alten Testament (Leipzig, 1886), p. 184monograph
  • Paul Puffe, "מוט Means 'Collapse,' Not 'Be Shaken,'" Concordia Theological Journal 7:1 (2020): 77-92article

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

All attested forms of מוֹט

m s absolute

הַמּוֹט, לַמּוֹט, בַמּוֹט

Num 4:10, Num 4:12, Psa 66:9, Psa 121:3, Num 13:23

m s construct

מֹטֵהוּ

Nam 1:13