StrongerBible

miqnah

מִקְנָה

HebrewH4736purchase, possession, ...

Appears 15 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 17:12Gen 17:13Gen 17:23Gen 17:27Gen 23:18Exo 12:44Lev 25:16 (2×)Lev 25:51Lev 27:22Jer 32:11Jer 32:12 (2×)Jer 32:14Jer 32:16
Root family
Word studymik-NAHnoun

What miqnah means

a purchase: what is gained by paying money for it, whether the buying itself, the price handed over, or the property so acquired.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the noun "purchase," built from the verb "to buy" (קנה). It labels whatever is bound up in getting something by paying for it: the act of acquiring it, the price handed over, or the property that changes hands as a result. Which of the three is in view depends on the sentence, but the single thread running through all of them is that money changed hands.

Because the word can land on the deal, the payment, or the goods, English versions shift with it: "purchase," "price," "possession," or "bought with money." In the account of Abraham it names the field at Machpelah once it is legally his by buying it (Genesis 23), and in Jeremiah it is the sealed deed that secures Jeremiah's field at Anathoth (Jeremiah 32). In the laws about servants it marks a household member "bought with money," a person acquired rather than born into the family (Genesis 17; Exodus 12).

A natural partner is the word for a "sale" (מִמְכָּר). The two stand side by side in the rule that lets a bought servant be redeemed (Leviticus 25:51): one word for what the buyer gained, the other for what the seller gave up.

Nuances

1aacquisition by purchase: a person or thing gotten by paying money for it, rather than by birth or inheritance.
Gen 17:12Gen 17:13Gen 17:23Gen 17:27Exo 12:44Lev 27:22
1bthe purchase price: the amount of money paid to buy something.
Lev 25:16 (2×)Lev 25:51
1cthe purchase itself: the property gained by buying, or the transaction as set down in a deed.
Gen 23:18Jer 32:11Jer 32:12 (2×)Jer 32:14Jer 32:16

What scholars say about miqnah

מִקְנָה is a feminine noun from the root קנה "to acquire, buy," denoting a purchase and, by metonymy, the price paid or the thing bought (BDB; HALOT). It must be kept apart from the masculine מִקְנֶה "cattle, livestock," a separate derivative of the same root. The lexica group its occurrences under the act of buying (the recurring מִקְנַת־כֶּסֶף "bought with money" of Genesis 17 and Exodus 12:44), the purchase price (Leviticus 25:16, 51), and the purchase or purchased property, including the סֵפֶר הַמִּקְנָה "deed of purchase" in Jeremiah 32.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. מִקְנָהlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. מִקְנָהlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. קנהtheological-dictionary

All attested forms of מִקְנָה

f s absolute

מִּקְנָה, מִקְנָה

Jer 32:11, Jer 32:12, Jer 32:12, Jer 32:14, Jer 32:16, Gen 23:18

f s construct

מִקְנַת

Gen 17:12, Gen 17:13, Gen 17:23, Gen 17:27, Exo 12:44

f s construct

מִקְנָתוֹ

Lev 25:16, Lev 25:16, Lev 25:51, Lev 27:22