מְסִלָּה
mᵉçillâh · H4546 · Hebrew · 27 occurrences
Thing
Meanings
-
highway
A relatively wide road or access ramp made by by covering the surface of the ground with thicks layers of sand
ExamplesJudges 20:31 When the sons of Benjamin went out against the people, they were lured away from the city, and they began to strike and kill some of the people as at other times, on the roads (one of which goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah), and in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
Judges 20:32 And the sons of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, like the first time.” But the sons of Israel said, “Let’s flee, so that we may draw them away from the city to the roads.”
Judges 20:45 The rest turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, but they caught five thousand of them on the roads and overtook them at Gidom, and killed two thousand of them.
-
Literally: highway; hence: pattern of behavior, with a primary focus on moral and ethical behavior, understood as a journey through life (way (of life))
ExamplesProverbs 16:17 The highway of the upright is to turn away from evil; One who watches his way protects his life.
Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of wrongdoing, Devastation and destruction are in their paths.
-
ramp
Exact meaning unsure; possibly: a sloping surface joining two different levels
Examples2 Chronicles 9:11 From the algum trees the king made steps to the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; and nothing like them was seen before in the land of Judah.
-
path, course
Literally: highway; hence: the direction in which humans or animals move forward
ExamplesJoel 2:8 They do not crowd each other, Every warrior of them marches in his path; When they burst through the defenses, They do not break ranks.
-
course, path
Literally: highway; hence: the trajectory of a celestial object
ExamplesJudges 5:20 “The stars fought from heaven, From their paths they fought against Sisera.
How it’s used In 10 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
8 occurrences in 5 groups
- שָׂדֶהfield, countryside 3
- הֶםtheir 2
- יָשָׁרupright, right 1
- יmy 1
- הוּhis 1
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- עָלָהto go up 2
- גִּבְעָהhill 1
- אֶחָדone 1
Named alongside itApposition
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- דֶּרֶךְway, road 1
- עָלָהto go up 1
What it doesIt is the subject
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- הָיָהto be, to become 2
- רוּםto be high, to raise, to lift up 1
- שָׁמֵםto be desolate, to be appalled 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- יָשַׁרto make straight 1
- סָלַלto cast up 1
Second object ofSecond object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- עָשָׂהto do, to make 1
What it is said to bePredicate
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- לֵבָבheart, mind 1
- סוּרto turn aside, to depart, to remove 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
2 occurrences in 3 groups
- אַרְבַּעfour 1
- שֶׁבֶרdestruction, fracture 1
- שֹׁדviolence 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
17 occurrences in 4 groups
- בin/on/with 15
- מִןfrom 6
- אֵלto, toward 4
- לto/for 4
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- תָּוֶךְmiddle 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 4 words
- אֹרַח ʼôrach · H734 · path, road, course
- Both words denote routes, paths or ways and overlap in the core senses 'path' and 'way'.
- דֶּרֶךְ derek · H1870 · road, way, path
- Both words denote types of roads or paths. דֶּרֶךְ (derek, H1870) is the common, broad term for 'way, path, road', while the target term is a more specific term for 'highway, causeway', a constructed, elevated or major road. They overlap in the sense of designating traveled routes.
- מִשְׁעוֹל mishʻôwl · H4934 · path, road
- Both terms denote a path or road, and their senses overlap closely enough that either could describe the same kind of route.
- מַעְגָּל maʻgâl · H4570 · track, path
- Both words are concrete terms for a path or road ('highway, path' and 'path, way'), substitutable in contexts of routes.
In the other Testament 2 words
- ὁδός hodós · G3598 · road, highway, street
- Greek ὁδός serves as the standard LXX rendering of Hebrew מְסִלָּה across literal roadway contexts (highway, path, causeway) and shares the same metaphorical extension to 'way of life' or 'course of conduct'; both terms denote constructed or established routes in their primary sense.
- τρίβος tríbos · G5147 · path, beaten path
- Greek τρίβος specifically denotes a worn track or beaten path, serving as the standard LXX rendering for Hebrew מְסִלָּה in contexts emphasizing a traveled way or constructed pathway.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- Roads001003002007
- מְסִלָּה denotes a highway or main road, as with the roads on which the sons of Benjamin are lured away from the city in Judges.
- Act002002002001
- This domain is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which describe the highway as a place or route rather than the act of traveling upon it.
- Constructions001003002
- מְסִלָּה denotes a constructed roadway, a built causeway or terrace for travel.
- Space002002001017
- מְסִלָּה denotes the road as a physical extent of space, the route along which armies and travelers move.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4546. mesillah מְסִלָּה noun feminine highway; — ׳מ Isa 11:16 Isa 11:12t.; construct…
מְסִלָּה noun feminine highway; — ׳מ Isa 11:16 Isa 11:12t.; construct מְסִלַּת Isa 7:3 Isa 7:3t.; suffix מְסִלָּתוֺ Joe 2:8; plural מְסִלּוֺת Isa 33:8 Isa 33:5t.; suffix מְסִלֹּתַי Isa 49:11; מְסִלּוֺתָם Jdg 5:20; Isa 59:7; — raised way, highway, public road (never of street in city) Num 20:19; Jdg 20:31-32, Jdg 20:45; Jdg 21:19; 1Sa 6:12; 2Sa 20:12 (twice in verse); 2Sa 20:13; 2Ki 18:17 = Isa 36:2; 1Ch 26:16, 1Ch 26:18; Isa 7:3; Isa 11:16; Isa 19:23; Isa 33:8; Isa 49:11; Isa 59:7; Jer 31:21; מ ׳ישּׁר Isa 40:3; מ ׳סלל Isa 62:10; in a figurative sense, of the courses of the stars Jdg 5:20; the march of locusts Joe 2:8; the conduct of the upright Pro 16:17; of the ascents to Zion in the mind of the pious Psa 84:6 (ᵐ5: Bae reads מַעֲלוֺת). — In 2Ch 9:11 מסלות is error for (ותׅ מִסְעָד of || 1Ki 10:12.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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