Hebrew word · H1207

בִּצָּה

vitzah

swamp

Swamp, marsh, wet muddy ground. Elsewhere only in Job 8:11 ('Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?') and Job 40:21 (Behemoth lying 'in the shelter of reeds and marsh').

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

swamp, marsh

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezekiel 47:11

Range of meaning

Swamp, marsh, wet muddy ground. Elsewhere only in Job 8:11 ('Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?') and Job 40:21 (Behemoth lying 'in the shelter of reeds and marsh').

Against the English

KJV 'miry places', BSB/WEB/NIV/ESV 'swamps', YLT 'miry'. All are adequate. 'Miry' captures the mud.

Used elsewhere in the period

The rare form here, a plural spelled with an aleph, has puzzled grammarians. The ancient translations seem to have struggled with it too (see textual notes).

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 8:11 בִצָּ֑ה marsh

    Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

  2. Job 40:21 וּבִצָּֽה׃ and swamp

    He lies under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds of the marsh.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 47:11 בִּצֹּאתָ֧יו swamps its

    But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

    Here: 'Its swamps': the muddy, waterlogged flats along the edge of the sea ("its" is the sea of v. 8–10, the Dead Sea). The word is rare, used elsewhere only in Job for the marshy ground where papyrus and reeds grow.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.