Hebrew word · H4182
מוֹרֶ֫שֶׁת גַּת
gat
Moresheth-gath
The place name Moresheth-gath. It is commonly located at Tell el-Judeideh (Tel Goded) in the Shephelah, the lowland foothills west of the Judean hills, though the site is not certain. 'Gath' means 'winepress' and probably links the town to the nearby Philistine city.
Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Moresheth-gath = "possession of Gath"
a place apparently in the neighbourhood of Gath and probably the home of the prophet Micah
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
- Range of meaning
The place name Moresheth-gath. It is commonly located at Tell el-Judeideh (Tel Goded) in the Shephelah, the lowland foothills west of the Judean hills, though the site is not certain. 'Gath' means 'winepress' and probably links the town to the nearby Philistine city. The name probably comes from the root yarash, 'possess' (morashah, 'possession').
- Against the English
Every English version simply transliterates the name. The sound-play that is the point of the line is invisible in English.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Micah 1:1 and Jeremiah 26:18 call Micah 'the Morashtite'. The sound-play with me'orasah, 'betrothed woman' (Deuteronomy 22:23-28), is widely noted by commentators (for example Waltke, Andersen-Freedman, Hillers), though not all of them stress it.
Where it appears
Micah · 2
-
Micah 1:14 מוֹרֶ֣שֶׁת גַּ֑ת Moresheth, Gath
Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel.
Here: Micah's own hometown (1:1, 'the Morashtite'). It sounds like me'orasah, 'betrothed (woman)', so the town is the 'bride' who receives the send-off gift. It may also echo morashah, 'possession'.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.