Hebrew word · H4033

מָגוֹר

megureihem

sojourning

From gur, 'to sojourn, live as a resident alien'. It means a place of temporary residence, a lodging or dwelling (Gen 17:8 'the land of your sojournings'; Job 18:19). A different noun with the same spelling, magor (H4032), means 'terror' (Jer 6:25 'terror on every side').

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) sojourning place, dwelling-place, sojourning

1a) dwelling-place

1b) sojourning, lifetime

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 Psalm 55:15

Range of meaning

From gur, 'to sojourn, live as a resident alien'. It means a place of temporary residence, a lodging or dwelling (Gen 17:8 'the land of your sojournings'; Job 18:19). A different noun with the same spelling, magor (H4032), means 'terror' (Jer 6:25 'terror on every side').

Against the English

BSB 'homes', KJV/YLT 'dwellings/dwelling', WEB 'dwelling'. None of them carries the 'sojourning' overtone, and that is fair, because the word had largely become an ordinary word for 'abode'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has ἐν ταῖς παροικίαις αὐτῶν, 'in their sojournings', which keeps the root idea.

From the study of Genesis 17:8

Range of meaning

From the verb gur, "to live somewhere as a resident alien." A ger is someone who lives among a people not his own, usually long-term, without the inherited land rights of a native. He depends on the goodwill and protection of his hosts. Magor is the place or condition of that kind of residence. The plural ("sojournings") describes the state of living that way, or the places where one has done so.

Against the English

KJV "wherein thou art a stranger" and ESV/NASB "the land of your sojournings" keep the legal status. NIV "where you now reside as a foreigner" also keeps it. BSB "where you are residing" and WEB "where you are traveling" lose it: residing sounds like ordinary home life, and traveling suggests a trip. Neither carries the point that Abraham has no rights in this land.

How it drifted

Modern English "stranger" means someone unfamiliar or unknown. In 1611 it still meant a foreigner or alien resident, and that sense has faded.

Used elsewhere in the period

The phrase "land of your/their sojournings" belongs to a family of Genesis–Exodus texts: Gen 28:4 (Isaac's blessing on Jacob), 36:7, 37:1, 47:9 (Jacob's "days of my sojournings"), Exod 6:4. Abraham calls himself "a ger and a toshav (resident) among you" when he has to buy a grave (Gen 23:4). Lev 25:23 extends the idea to all Israel: "the land is mine; you are gerim and toshavim with me." The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) renders it "which you dwell in as a paroikos (resident alien)," vocabulary that 1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:9 take up.

From the study of Ezekiel 20:38

Range of meaning

Sojourning, place of temporary residence as a resident alien (from gûr, 'to live as a gēr', a foreigner without inherited land or native rights). 'Land of sojournings' is used of Canaan for the patriarchs (Gen 17:8; 28:4; 36:7; 37:1; Exod 6:4). Elsewhere the word can mean a dwelling.

Against the English

KJV ('the country where they sojourn') keeps the alien status. BSB, WEB and NIV ('the land in which they dwell / live') flatten it into ordinary residence. NLT brings out the sense by speaking of exile.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 6:4 has the same phrase ('the land of their sojournings') in the passage Ezekiel 20 draws on most: the exodus promise with 'outstretched arm' (Exod 6:6; Ezek 20:33–34) and 'you shall know that I am YHWH' (Exod 6:7; Ezek 20:38).

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 17:8 מְגֻרֶ֗יךָ sojournings your

    And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

    Here: "Your sojournings": the land where Abraham lives as a resident outsider with no land rights. The irony is deliberate. The country where he is legally a guest is the very country promised to him.

  2. Genesis 28:4 מְגֻרֶ֔יךָ sojournings your

    And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

    Here: A plural noun, 'your places or periods of living as a resident alien'. It describes Canaan as the land where the family lives under someone else's protection, without the rights of landholders.

  3. Genesis 36:7 מְגֽוּרֵיהֶם֙ sojournings their

    For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together; the land where they stayed could not support them because of their livestock.

  4. Genesis 37:1 מְגוּרֵ֣י [the] sojournings of

    Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan.

  5. Genesis 47:9 מְגוּרַ֔י מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם׃ sojournings my, sojournings their

    “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

    Here: Plural, 'my sojournings'. It comes from the verb gûr, 'to live as a resident alien'. Jacob does not call his life simply 'my life' at first. He calls it the time he has lived as a foreigner in lands that were not his own.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 6:4 מְגֻרֵיהֶ֖ם sojournings their

    I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners.

Job · 1

  1. Job 18:19 בִּמְגוּרָֽיו׃ in sojourning-places his

    He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 55:15 בִּמְגוּרָ֣ם [are] in sojourning-place their

    Let death seize them by surprise; let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is with them in their homes.

    Here: 'In their lodging-place'. The noun comes from gur, 'to stay as a resident alien', and so means a place where one lives. Evil has taken up residence in their homes. It sounds like magor, 'terror' (v. 4 speaks of terrors), and some readers hear a play on words.

  2. Psalm 119:54 מְגוּרָֽי׃ sojournings my

    Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 20:38 מְגֽוּרֵיהֶם֙ sojournings their

    And I will purge you of those who rebel and transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the land in which they dwell, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

    Here: The place where one lives as a resident alien (gēr), without native rights. Calling Babylon and the other lands 'the land of their sojournings' makes the exiles' stay there temporary. The same phrase in Exodus 6:4 named Canaan, the land the patriarchs lived in as aliens before it was given to them.

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