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mezuzah

מְזוּזָה

HebrewH4201doorpost, gatepost

Appears 19 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 12:7Exo 12:22Exo 12:23Exo 21:6Deu 6:9Deu 11:20Jdg 16:31Sa 1:91Ki 6:311Ki 6:331Ki 7:5Pro 8:34Isa 57:8Ezk 41:21Ezk 43:8 (2×)Ezk 45:19 (2×)Ezk 46:2
Root family
Word studyResearch-grademeh-zoo-ZAHnoun

What mezuzah means

doorpost: the upright side-post of a doorway or gate

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This word always names one specific part of a doorway: the vertical post that stands on either side of the opening and frames it. The standard lexicons agree on this, and the Hebrew Bible keeps it carefully separate from the parts around it. It is not the door itself (the swinging leaf), not the horizontal beam across the top, and not the threshold underfoot. When a verse lists those parts, the doorpost stands beside them as its own piece.

The one thing that changes from verse to verse is the kind of building, and the senses below sort the occurrences by that setting because that is how the lexicons themselves group them: the side-posts of an ordinary home, the posts at the entrance of a sanctuary or temple, and the posts of a city gate. The core picture is identical in every case, a fixed upright at the edge of an entrance, so this is one meaning seen in three settings, not three meanings.

What makes the word memorable is not its range, which is narrow, but the weight the Bible loads onto this one spot. The doorpost is where the Passover blood was smeared, where a servant's ear was pierced to bind him to a household, and where Israel was told to write God's words. It marks the boundary between inside and outside, and so it becomes the natural place to mark belonging, protection, and instruction. The richness is in what happens at the doorpost, not in the word for it.

Nuances

1athe side-post of a house or home doorway
Exo 12:7Exo 12:22Exo 12:23Exo 21:6Deu 6:9Deu 11:20Pro 8:34Isa 57:8
1bthe side-post of a sanctuary or temple doorway
1Sa 1:91Ki 6:311Ki 6:331Ki 7:5Ezk 41:21Ezk 43:8 (2×)Ezk 45:19 (2×)Ezk 46:2
1cthe side-post of a city gate
Jdg 16:3

What scholars say about mezuzah

All five major lexica (BDB, Gesenius, HALOT, DCH, and the article in TDOT generally attributed to Milgrom) agree that מְזוּזָה denotes the vertical jamb of a doorway or gate, distinguished from the door (דֶּלֶת), lintel (מַשְׁקוֹף), and threshold (סַף or מִפְתָּן), and they distribute its nineteen occurrences across three architectural domains: private dwelling, sanctuary, and city gate. The chief scholarly dispute is etymological. The older view (BDB, the original Gesenius, Kaddari) derives the noun from a native root זוז "to move," the doorpost being that on which the door pivots; the now-majority view (HALOT, Gesenius 18, Klein, Tawil, TDOT) takes it as a maqtāl noun from a Common-Semitic root meaning "to stand," cognate with Akkadian manzāzu, the doorpost being "the standing thing." The Septuagint's σταθμός (from ἵστημι, "to stand") aligns with the latter, though as Mankowski's strict loanword study and CAD M/1 both note, no Akkadian attestation specifically means "doorpost," so the relationship is best understood as inherited cognate vocabulary rather than borrowing. The Solomonic temple passages (1 Kings 6:31, 6:33; 7:5) and Ezekiel 41:21 are textually difficult, with NRSV and NJPS footnoting "Hebrew uncertain"; Cogan, Fritz, and the Khirbet Qeiyafa shrine-model analysis of Garfinkel and Mumcuoglu variously read the term there as "recessed doorframe" rather than a simple post.

Where scholars disagree about mezuzah

The etymology of the word: whether it derives from a native Hebrew root meaning "to move" (the doorpost as that on which the door pivots) or from a Common-Semitic root meaning "to stand" (the doorpost as "the standing thing"), cognate with Akkadian manzāzu.

  • majorityFrom a root meaning "to stand," cognate with Akkadian manzāzu; supported by the Septuagint's rendering σταθμός, from the Greek verb "to stand."; HALOT, s.v. מְזוּזָה; Gesenius, 18th ed., s.v. מְזוּזָה; Jacob Milgrom, TDOT vol. 8, s.v. מְזוּזָה
  • minorityFrom a native root זוז "to move," the doorpost being that on which the door turns.; BDB, s.v. מְזוּזָה; M. Z. Kaddari, Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (Bar-Ilan, 2006)
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. מְזוּזָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. מְזוּזָהlexicon
  • DCH, vol. 5, s.v. מְזוּזָהlexicon
  • Gesenius, 18th ed. (Donner et al.), s.v. מְזוּזָהlexicon
  • Jacob Milgrom, TDOT vol. 8, s.v. מְזוּזָהtheological-dictionary
  • Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, vol. M/1, s.v. manzāzulexicon
  • Hayim Tawil, An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew (KTAV, 2009)monograph
  • Jeffrey Tigay, JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy (1996), Excursus 10commentary
  • Mordechai Cogan, 1 Kings (Anchor Bible, 2001)commentary
  • Yosef Garfinkel and Madeleine Mumcuoglu, on the Khirbet Qeiyafa shrine modelarticle

All attested forms of מְזוּזָה

f p absolute

מְּזוּזֹת, מְּזוּזוֹת

Exo 12:7, Exo 12:22, Exo 12:23, Jdg 16:3, 1Ki 7:5

f p construct

מְזוּזוֹת, מְזוּזֹת

Deu 11:20, 1Ki 6:31, 1Ki 6:33, Deu 6:9, Pro 8:34

f s construct

מְזוּזַת

1Sa 1:9, Ezk 41:21, Ezk 45:19, Ezk 45:19, Ezk 46:2

f s absolute

מְּזוּזָה

Exo 21:6, Isa 57:8

f s construct

מְזוּזָתִי

Ezk 43:8

f s construct

מְזוּזָתָם

Ezk 43:8