מְצוֹלָה
mᵉtsôwlâh · H4688 · Hebrew · 12 occurrences
Meanings
-
ravine, pit
A very low area of the earth
ExamplesPsalm 88:6 You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths.
Zechariah 1:8 I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel, and white horses behind him.
-
depth
Poetic term: a deep body of water
ExamplesExodus 15:5 “The waters cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone.
Nehemiah 9:11 “You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And You hurled their pursuers into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters.
Job 41:31 “He makes the depths boil like a pot; He makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
How it’s used In 5 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
3 occurrences in 2 groups
- יָםsea 2
- יְאֹרriver Nile 1
What it doesIt is the subject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- בָּלַעto swallow 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- יָבֵשׁto dry up 1
- רָתַחto cause to boil 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
7 occurrences in 2 groups
- בin/on/with 9
- מִןfrom 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- יָוֵןmud 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.
In the other Testament 2 words
- βυθός bythós · G1037 · open sea, high sea, the deep
- Greek βυθός renders Hebrew מְצוֹלָה when denoting the depths of the sea or watery abyss, sharing the core semantic domain of profound depth (particularly aquatic).
- βάθος báthos · G899 · depth, deep, deep place
- Greek βάθος emphasizes profundity and extent (both literal depth and figurative mystery), while Hebrew מְצוֹלָה specifically denotes the physical bottom or deep places (particularly of waters), with less semantic range into abstract/figurative use.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Landforms001002003
- The word can denote the depths or floor beneath the sea, a submerged landform rather than merely open water, though the sampled citations emphasize the watery depths themselves.
- Waterbodies001002008
- מְצוֹלָה denotes the deep or depths of the sea, illustrated at Exodus 15:5 ("the deeps covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone") and Nehemiah 9:11 ("You threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into raging waters").
Word family 2 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4688. metsolah [מְצוֺלָה], מְצוּלָה noun feminine depth, deep; — absolute מְצוּלָה Job…
[מְצוֺלָה], מְצוּלָה noun feminine depth, deep; — absolute מְצוּלָה Job 41:23 +; plural absolute מְצוֺלֹת Exo 15:5; Neh 9:11, מְצֹלוֺת Psa 88:7; construct מְצוּלוֺת Zec 10:11, מְצֻלוֺת Mic 7:19; Psa 68:23; — depth, plural ׳מ יָם depths of the sea Mic 7:19; Psa 68:23; absolute Exo 15:5 (of Red Sea) Neh 9:11 (id.); figurative of deep distress Psa 88:7 (|| תַּחְתִיּוֺת בּוֺר); ׳מ יְאֹר Zec 10:11 (i.e. of Nile); singular = the deep sea, deep, Psa 107:24; Jon 2:4; Job 41:23 (in hyperbolic description of crocodile); depth of marsh, swamp, מ ׳בִּיוֵן Psa 69:3 in mire of (the) depth, figurative of distress (|| מַעֲמַקֵּימַֿיִם), compare ׳מ alone Psa 69:16 (|| בְּאֵר).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 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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