StrongerBible

maqtso'a

מִקְצֹעַ

HebrewH4740corner, angle, ...

Appears 12 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 26:24Exo 36:292Ch 26:9Neh 3:19Neh 3:20Neh 3:24Neh 3:25Ezk 41:22Ezk 46:21 (3×)Ezk 46:22
Root family
Word studymik-tso-AHnoun

What maqtso'a means

a corner: the angled place where two walls, boards, or sides of a structure meet

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This is a builder's word, and it stays one from beginning to end. It marks the angled place where two walls, two boards, or two sides of a structure come together: the rear corners of the tabernacle frame, the four corners of the temple courtyard, the corners of a wooden altar.

In the tabernacle instructions it is close to a technical term. Two extra boards were made for the corners at the back of the structure, doubled from the bottom up and fastened together at the top through a single ring, so the word names a piece of carpentry as much as a location.

In Nehemiah and 2 Chronicles it hardens into a landmark. Jerusalem's wall had a well known bend, and the writers simply call it "the Angle" and assume the reader knows the spot: repair crews work up to it, out from it, and across from it. Nehemiah 3:24 sets it beside a second corner feature, the outer corner (פִּנָּה), so the two were clearly different places along the same wall.

Keeping those two words apart is worth the trouble. The outer corner is the showpiece, the prominent angle of a building that a cornerstone anchors. This word stays with the plain geometry of the joint, and the Bible never stretches it into a picture of anything else.

Nuances

1athe corner of a building or enclosure: where two walls or two sides of a structure meet
Exo 26:23Exo 26:24Exo 36:28Exo 36:29Ezk 46:21 (3×)Ezk 46:22
1bthe Angle: the known bend in the wall of Jerusalem, named as a landmark
TranslatabilityPartial
2Ch 26:9Neh 3:19Neh 3:20Neh 3:24Neh 3:25
1cthe corners of a piece of furniture: the corners of the wooden altar
Ezk 41:22

What scholars say about maqtso'a

The standard lexica treat מִקְצוֹעַ as a single noun from the root קצע, denoting an architectural corner or angle; there is no case for homonymy, and the two glosses in STEPBible's lexicon reflect the KJV's rendering, not a lexical split. BDB divides the usage into the inner corner of the tabernacle frame and of the temple courts (Exod 26:24; 36:29; Ezek 46:21, 22), the corner-buttress or angle of the Jerusalem city wall used absolutely as a landmark (Neh 3:19, 20, 24, 25; 2 Chr 26:9), and the corner-pieces of the wooden altar in Ezek 41:22, where the MT is widely judged disturbed and the LXX diverges. HALOT and DCH agree on the basic sense and register the byform מְקֻצְעָה (Exod 26:23; 36:28), which the same pericope replaces with מִקְצוֹעַ one verse later. Discussion of the Neh 3 occurrences (Williamson) concerns the topography of the Angle within the fortification line rather than the lexical sense; the juxtaposition with פִּנָּה in Neh 3:24 tells against equating the two. For Ezek 46:21-22 the text itself identifies the corner enclosures as the places where the people's sacrifices were boiled (Ezek 46:23-24).

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. מִקְצוֹעַlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. מִקְצוֹעַlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. מִקְצוֹעַlexicon
  • H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (Word Biblical Commentary 16), on Nehemiah 3commentary
  • Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2 (Hermeneia), on Ezekiel 46:19-24commentary

All attested forms of מִקְצֹעַ

m s absolute

מִּקְצוֹעַ, מִּקְצֹעַ

2Ch 26:9, Neh 3:20, Neh 3:24, Neh 3:25, Neh 3:19

f p absolute

מִּקְצֹעֹת

Exo 26:24, Exo 36:29

m s construct

מִקְצֹעַ

Ezk 46:21, Ezk 46:21

f p construct

מִקְצֹעוֹת

Ezk 46:22

f p construct

מִקְצֹעוֹתָיו

Ezk 41:22

m p construct

מִקְצוֹעֵי

Ezk 46:21