Hebrew word · H1223

בׇּצְרָה

botzrah

enclosure

From the root b-ṣ-r, "to cut off, make inaccessible, fortify" (compare mibṣār, "fortress", and bāṣûr, "fortified"). As a common noun it is understood as an enclosure or fold (HALOT; BDB lists it as "enclosure, fold" with this verse as its main example).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

enclosure, fold, sheepfold (AV-Bozrah)

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 Micah 2:12

Range of meaning

From the root b-ṣ-r, "to cut off, make inaccessible, fortify" (compare mibṣār, "fortress", and bāṣûr, "fortified"). As a common noun it is understood as an enclosure or fold (HALOT; BDB lists it as "enclosure, fold" with this verse as its main example). As a proper name, Boṣrâ (H1224) is the chief city of Edom (Gen 36:33; Isa 34:6; 63:1; Amos 1:12), and also a town in Moab (Jer 48:24).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have "the sheep/flock of Bozrah". BSB, ESV, NIV and NASB have "in a pen/fold". The Greek Septuagint has "like sheep in distress".

How it drifted

The place-name reading goes back to the Jewish vocalization tradition and early translators who connected the word with the known city. Edom was sheep country, and Isa 34:6 mentions "a sacrifice in Bozrah" with lambs and rams. Since the 19th century most lexicons have taken it as a common noun, because of the parallel with "pasture" and the shepherd picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

As a common noun the word is rare and has no other clear occurrence. That rarity is why the ancient versions disagree. Many scholars also suggest the slightly changed reading bassîrâ, "in the fold" (from sîrâ, "pen"), or a form of bōṣrâ with a preposition. The Septuagint's "in distress" reflects reading bᵉṣārâ (ṣārâ, "trouble").

Similar words

Where it appears

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 2:12 בָּצְרָ֑ה a sheepfold

    I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng.

    Here: Most likely a walled pen for sheep, from a root meaning "fortified, cut off". It pairs with "pasture" in the next line. Older versions took it as the Edomite city Bozrah.

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