אֵבוּס

From the study of Isaiah 1:3

Range of meaning

Feeding trough or manger for livestock (Job 39:9; Prov 14:4, 'where there are no oxen the trough is clean'). Related to a root meaning 'to feed, fatten' (cf. Prov 15:17, 'a fattened ox').

Against the English

BSB, NIV and NASB have 'manger'. KJV, WEB and ESV have 'crib', which in older English meant a fodder rack or trough. Today 'crib' mostly means a baby's bed, which can mislead.

How it drifted

'Crib' meant a manger or stall in Early Modern English. In American English it later came to mean an infant's bed.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it phatnē, the same Greek word Luke uses for the manger where Jesus is laid (Luke 2:7, 12, 16). Through this link, later Christian tradition, especially the 7th-century Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew 14, placed an ox and a donkey at the nativity, explicitly citing Isa 1:3.

From the study of Job 39:9

Range of meaning

A feeding trough or manger for livestock.

Against the English

KJV's 'crib' meant a fodder rack or manger in 1611. Today it means a baby's bed, so modern readers can misread it.

How it drifted

In English, 'crib' moved from 'manger or stall' to 'child's bed' (partly through nativity cribs), and later to slang for 'home'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 1:3: 'The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's ʾevus.' Prov 14:4: 'Where there are no oxen, the ʾevus is clean.' The Septuagint renders it phatnē, the word used for the manger in Luke 2:7.

From the study of Proverbs 14:4

Range of meaning

Feeding trough or manger for livestock. It comes from a root meaning 'to feed, fatten'. It appears only in Isaiah 1:3 ('the donkey its master's trough'), Job 39:9 (will the wild ox 'spend the night at your trough?') and here.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'crib' (in the old sense of fodder-rack), ESV/NASB/NIV/BSB 'manger', YLT 'stall', NLT 'stable'.

How it drifted

'Crib' now means a baby's bed for most readers, and 'manger' is coloured by the Christmas story. 'Stall' and 'stable' widen the picture from the trough to the whole building.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 1:3 shows the trough as the place where a domestic animal knows it will be fed by its owner. Archaeologists have found stone feeding troughs in Iron Age pillared buildings in Israel, such as those at Megiddo and Hazor, though whether those were stables is debated.