Hebrew word · H2793

חֹ֫רֶשׁ

bachoreshah

Horesh

A common noun for a wooded area, thicket or scrub (Isa 17:9; Ezek 31:3; 2 Chr 27:4). Here it is also taken as a place name, Horesh, in the Wilderness of Ziph.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

This name means wood, forest

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 1 Samuel 23:16

Range of meaning

A common noun for a wooded area, thicket or scrub (Isa 17:9; Ezek 31:3; 2 Chr 27:4). Here it is also taken as a place name, Horesh, in the Wilderness of Ziph.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'into the wood(s),' YLT 'to the forest'; BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB 'Horesh.'

How it drifted

'Wood/forest' calls up a European woodland. The Ziph area, on the edge of the Judean wilderness, is semi-arid, so at most it would have had patches of scrub or thicket. That is one reason many scholars prefer a place name.

Used elsewhere in the period

Often identified with Khirbet Khoreisa, about 2–3 km south of Tell Zif, southeast of Hebron. The identification is plausible but not certain. The Septuagint appears to have read a different word (see textual notes).

From the study of 1 Samuel 23:19

Range of meaning

As a common noun, 'wooded area, thicket, scrubby woodland' (Isa 17:9; Ezek 31:3; 2 Chr 27:4). In 1 Sam 23:15, 16, 18, 19 it appears with the directional ending (ḥōrᵉshāh) and is widely taken as a place name, 'Horesh' or 'Horesha'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: 'in the wood(s)'. YLT: 'in the forest'. BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB: 'at Horesh' as a place name. The older renderings make readers picture a forest, which is unlikely in this dry fringe of the Judean desert.

How it drifted

Older translators followed the common-noun meaning. More recent geographical study of the Ziph area led most modern versions to treat it as a name.

Used elsewhere in the period

Many geographers identify the site with Khirbet Khoreisa, about 2 km south of Tell Zif, where the old name seems to survive (Aharoni; McCarter, Anchor Bible). The Septuagint read the word as 'the New [place]' (Kainē), evidently from a Hebrew text or reading with d for r (חדשה for חרשה).

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 4

  1. 1 Samuel 23:15 בַּחֹֽרְשָׁה׃ ס at <the> Horesh

    While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

  2. 1 Samuel 23:16 חֹ֑רְשָׁה Horesh

    And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,

    Here: 'To Horesh' (the ending -āh means 'toward'). It may be a place name (as BSB and most modern versions take it) or the common noun 'the thicket/wood' (KJV). Either way it is a hideout in the hill country of Ziph, southeast of Hebron.

  3. 1 Samuel 23:18 בַּחֹ֔רְשָׁה at <the> Horesh

    So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

  4. 1 Samuel 23:19 בַּחֹ֔רְשָׁה at <the> Horesh

    Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?

    Here: The common noun means 'wooded place, thicket'. Here it most likely names a specific place, Horesh (Horesha), the same spot where Jonathan had just met David (vv. 15–18). The informers point exactly to where David is.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 27:4 וּבֶחֳרָשִׁ֣ים and in the wooded areas

    He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 17:9 הַחֹ֙רֶשׁ֙ the forest

    In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 31:3 וְחֹ֥רֶשׁ and forest

    Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.

    Here: A thicket or wooded height. The single tree is so dense that it is like a whole thicket. This phrase may be missing from the Greek translation.

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