יָצוּעַ

From the study of 1 Chronicles 5:1

Range of meaning

Couch or bed. A rare, elevated word, used mostly in poetry (Psalm 63:6; 132:3; Job 17:13), sometimes in the plural.

Against the English

'Bed' or 'couch' is literal. Modern readers may not realise that 'his father's bed' is a euphemism for his father's woman: Bilhah, Rachel's maid and Jacob's concubine (Genesis 35:22).

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 49:4 uses both mishkevei avikha, 'your father's beds' (plural), and yetsu'i, 'my couch'. The Chronicler combines them into yetsu'ei aviv, 'his father's couches'.

From the study of 1 Kings 6:10

Range of meaning

A rare architectural term, found only in 1 Kgs 6:5, 6, 10. It comes from the root y-ts-ʿ, 'to spread out' (used of spreading a bed), and is related to yatsuaʿ, 'couch, bed' (Gen 49:4; Ps 63:6). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'side-structure, lean-to, annex, storey', meaning a low structure spread out along the base of a wall. Verses 5–6 show what it was: a block of 'side rooms' (tsélaʿot, literally 'ribs') in three storeys. The lowest was 5 cubits wide, the middle 6, the top 7.

Against the English

KJV and BSB 'chambers' turn the single structure into a plural number of rooms. WEB 'floors' points to storeys, but a modern reader may hear floorboards. YLT 'couch' follows the written consonants and the bed meaning of the root, which makes no sense in English. 'Structure', 'annex' or 'side-structure' is closest.

How it drifted

There is no drift in the theological sense. The problem is a rare technical term that translators have guessed at in different ways. The written-versus-read difference in the Hebrew (yatsuaʿ vs. yatsiaʿ) explains the 'couch' rendering.

Used elsewhere in the period

It occurs only in this chapter. The best parallel is Ezekiel's temple plan (Ezek 41:5–11), which also has side rooms (tsélaʿot) in three storeys, getting wider as they go up, with the beams 'held' but not in the temple wall. Archaeology offers comparisons: the Iron Age temple at ʿAin Dara in northern Syria had a corridor-like surround on three sides of a tripartite building, and temples at Tell Tayinat had similar plans. Scholars widely cite these as the nearest physical analogues to Solomon's layout.

From the study of 1 Kings 6:5

Range of meaning

From the root y-ts-ʿ, 'to spread out' (used for spreading a bed, Isa 58:5; Ps 139:8). The related noun yatsuaʿ means 'couch, bed' (Gen 49:4; Ps 63:6; 132:3; Job 17:13). As a building term (only 1 Kgs 6:5, 6, 10) it means a structure 'laid out' against a building: an annex or lean-to made of floors or stories. HALOT gives 'annex, side-structure'. BDB treats it as a 'flat surface, story' built against the temple.

Against the English

KJV 'chambers', WEB 'floors', NASB 'stories', BSB 'chambered structure', ESV/NIV 'structure', YLT 'couch'. YLT follows the written consonants (yatsuaʿ = bed) and gives a nonsensical picture. 'Floors' and 'stories' capture v. 6, where the annex has a lower, middle and third level. 'Structure' and 'annex' capture v. 5, where it is the whole wrap-around building.

How it drifted

No real drift in modern English. The confusion is ancient: written text and reading tradition disagree, and a rare architectural word was unfamiliar even to early translators.

Used elsewhere in the period

The building sense appears only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint seems to render it with a general word for structural timbers or rafters, and the Vulgate with a word for floors or stories (my recollection of these renderings is not certain). Ezekiel's ideal temple has a comparable three-story annex, but there it is called tselaʿot, 'side-rooms' (Ezek 41:5–11).