Hebrew word · H4200
מָ֫זוּ
mezaveinu
granary
Storehouse or granary for farm produce. The word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its sense is worked out from the parallel ideas (full, supplying produce) and from early translations.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
garner, granary
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 144:13
- Range of meaning
Storehouse or granary for farm produce. The word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its sense is worked out from the parallel ideas (full, supplying produce) and from early translations.
- Against the English
KJV and YLT 'garners' (an old word for granaries). BSB 'storehouses.' WEB, NIV and NLT 'barns.' ESV 'granaries.' All agree on the basic idea. 'Barns' brings in the picture of a large timber farm building, which does not fit Israelite storage.
- How it drifted
'Barn' in modern English means a big outbuilding for animals and hay. Israelite grain was stored in plastered pits, stone-lined silos, storage jars and storerooms inside houses or royal stores.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint renders it tamieia, 'storerooms,' and the Vulgate promptuaria, 'storehouses.' Lexicons (HALOT, BDB) list it as a single occurrence and connect it uncertainly to zaviyyah, 'corner.' That connection would make the granaries 'corner rooms' and would produce a sound-echo with v. 12's daughters 'like corner pillars' (kezaviyyot).
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 144:13 מְזָוֵ֣ינוּ granaries our
Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.
Here: 'Our granaries.' The word occurs only here in the Bible, so its meaning comes from context and the ancient versions (Greek 'storerooms'). It echoes the sound of zaviyyot, 'corners/corner pillars,' in the previous verse.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.