חָצֵר

From the study of Psalm 92:13

Range of meaning

An enclosure or court, a walled open space. Also used of unwalled villages and farmsteads. In cultic texts it means the courtyards of the tabernacle or temple.

Against the English

'Courts' is accurate. The word can make a modern reader think of law courts or royal courts. Here it means open-air courtyards.

Used elsewhere in the period

The tabernacle 'court' (Exodus 27:9); the inner and outer courts of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:36; 7:12); the courts as the worshipper's longed-for place: 'my soul longs, even faints, for the courts of Yahweh' (Psalm 84:2, 10); 'enter his courts with praise' (Psalm 100:4).

From the study of Exodus 27:18

Range of meaning

An enclosed open space: the yard of a house, the forecourt of a palace or temple, and in another use a small unwalled settlement or encampment ('villages', Lev 25:31). Its basic idea is a bounded area set apart from open ground.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'court' and BSB/NIV 'courtyard'. 'Courtyard' is clearer, because modern 'court' suggests a law court, a royal court or a sports court.

How it drifted

In 1611 English 'court' meant an enclosed yard first. Today the legal and royal senses dominate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for the temple courts in Kings, Ezekiel and the Psalms ('better a day in your courts', Ps 84:10). In the Septuagint it is regularly translated by αὐλή, the enclosed yard of a Greek house or temple.

From the study of Esther 5:1

Range of meaning

Ḥāṣēr is an enclosed courtyard or enclosure. It is used of temple courts, palace courts and village settlements. Pənîmî means inner or interior.

Against the English

'Inner court' is accurate in all major versions. What English readers may miss is that this exact phrase is the legal trigger in 4:11.

Used elsewhere in the period

Esther 4:11: 'any man or woman who comes to the king into the inner court without being called' is put to death unless the king holds out the gold scepter. Greek writers describe Persian kings as screened from access. Herodotus (1.99) has the Median king Deioces rule that no one may come into the king's presence and that all business must pass through messengers. In Herodotus 3.118 even the six nobles who were allowed unannounced entry could not come in when the king was with a woman. Josephus' retelling (Antiquities book 11) adds axe-bearing guards around the throne. The Persepolis audience reliefs show an official approaching the seated king with his hand raised to his mouth in a gesture of reverence, with guards on either side.