StrongerBible

moshav

מוֹשָׁב

HebrewH4186seat, dwelling, ...

Appears 44 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 10:30Gen 27:39Gen 36:43Exo 10:23Exo 12:20Exo 12:40Exo 35:3Lev 3:17Lev 7:26Lev 13:46Lev 23:3Lev 23:14Lev 23:17Lev 23:21Lev 23:31Lev 25:29Num 15:2Num 24:21Num 31:10Num 35:291Sa 20:181Sa 20:25 (2×)2Sa 9:121Ki 10:52Ki 2:191Ch 4:331Ch 6:54(39)1Ch 7:282Ch 9:4Job 29:7Psa 1:1Psa 107:4Psa 107:7Psa 107:32Psa 107:36Psa 132:13Ezk 6:6Ezk 6:14Ezk 8:3Ezk 28:2Ezk 34:13Ezk 37:23Ezk 48:15
Root family
Word studymoh-SHAHVnoun

What moshav means

a place where someone sits or lives: a seat, a settlement, or the act of dwelling there

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This noun is built from the verb meaning to sit or to dwell, and it keeps that whole range. At its most concrete it is the spot a person sits: a chair, a fixed place at a table, a position in an assembly. Widen the lens and the same word names the place a person lives: a home, a town, the inhabited stretch of land a family or nation occupies. The books of Moses use it again and again in the phrase usually translated "throughout your dwellings," meaning wherever the people happen to be settled.

The senses are not separate ideas so much as one idea seen at different distances. To take a seat and to take up residence are the same act of settling in, one for a moment and one for a lifetime. That is why a single Hebrew word can move from the chair by the wall to the homeland a tribe inhabits without feeling like a different word.

A third, narrower use names not the place but the staying itself: the stretch of time a people lived somewhere. There the word points to the dwelling as an event with a duration rather than a location on a map.

English has no single word that covers all of this, which is why translators reach for "seat," "dwelling," "settlement," "habitation," or "sojourn" depending on the verse.

Nuances

1aa seat or place of sitting: the spot a person occupies, including an assigned place in a household, at a table, or in an assembly
1Sa 20:181Sa 20:25 (2×)1Ki 10:52Ch 9:4Job 29:7Psa 1:1Psa 107:32Ezk 28:2
1ba dwelling place: a home, a town, or the inhabited region where a family or people settle
Gen 10:30Gen 27:39Gen 36:43Exo 10:23Exo 35:3Lev 13:46Lev 25:29Num 24:21Num 31:101Ch 4:331Ch 6:54(39)1Ch 7:28
1cthe act or time of dwelling: the period a people lived in a place
Exo 12:40

What scholars say about moshav

BDB, HALOT, and DCH all derive H4186 מוֹשָׁב from the root ישׁב "to sit, dwell," and group its uses under a unified range: (1) the act of sitting and the seat or place occupied, including a place in an assembly or at table (1 Sam 20:18, 25; Ps 1:1; Job 29:7; 1 Kgs 10:5); (2) dwelling place, settlement, or inhabited region, by far the most frequent use and the standard sense of the recurring priestly formula bekhol moshevotekhem "throughout your dwellings" (Exod 12:20; Lev 3:17; 23:3 and parallels); and (3) the period or condition of dwelling, the abstract nominal sense seen in Exod 12:40, where moshav names the 430 years of Israel's residence in Egypt. The lexica treat these as facets of one polysemous noun rather than as homonyms, and they recognize the abstract "duration of dwelling" sense as marginal and confined to a small number of texts.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. מוֹשָׁבlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. מוֹשָׁבlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. מוֹשָׁבlexicon
  • TWOT 922ctheological-dictionary

All attested forms of מוֹשָׁב

f p construct

מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם, מֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם, מוֹשְׁבוֹתֵיכֶם, מִמּוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם

Exo 12:20, Lev 3:17, Lev 7:26, Lev 23:3, Lev 23:21, Num 15:2, Num 35:29, Exo 35:3

m s construct

מוֹשַׁב, וּמוֹשַׁב, וּבְמוֹשַׁב

Lev 25:29, 1Sa 20:25, 2Sa 9:12, 2Ki 2:19, Ezk 8:3, Ezk 28:2, Exo 12:40, 1Ki 10:5

f p construct

בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָם, מוֹשְׁבוֹתֵיהֶם, מוֹשְׁבוֹתָם, מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיהֶם, מוֹשְׁבֹתָם, מֹשְׁבוֹתָם, מֹשְׁבֹתָם

Exo 10:23, Num 31:10, Ezk 6:14, 1Ch 6:54, Ezk 37:23, 1Ch 4:33, 1Ch 7:28, Gen 36:43

m s absolute

מוֹשָׁב, לְמוֹשָׁב

Psa 107:4, Psa 107:7, Psa 107:36, Psa 132:13, Ezk 48:15

m s construct

מוֹשָׁבֶךָ

Gen 27:39, Num 24:21, 1Sa 20:18

m s construct

מוֹשָׁבוֹ

Lev 13:46, 1Sa 20:25

m p construct

מוֹשְׁבֵי

Ezk 34:13

m s construct

מוֹשָׁבִי

Job 29:7

m s construct

מוֹשָׁבָם

Gen 10:30