מָחוֹז

From the study of Psalm 107:30

Range of meaning

The word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning comes from related languages. Akkadian māḫāzu means 'city, market town, cult centre', and Ugaritic mḫd is widely identified with the harbor-town of Ugarit. In Aramaic and later Hebrew, maḥoza means 'town, district'. A Jewish settlement on the Dead Sea shore was called Maḥoza in the Babatha documents (2nd century AD), and there was also a Babylonian town called Mahoza. Put together, the word means a port or trading town: the place where boats come in and business happens.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and most modern versions say 'haven', and BSB and NLT say 'harbor'. 'Haven' was originally the ordinary English word for a port, but today it mostly means a refuge or sanctuary ('safe haven', 'tax haven'). 'Harbor' is the more concrete of the two.

How it drifted

English 'haven' (Old English hæfen, port) has shifted from its nautical meaning toward 'shelter, refuge'. Centuries of hymns and funeral use made 'desired haven' a picture of the life to come.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX (Ps 106:30) translates it λιμήν (limēn), 'harbor'. The Vulgate follows with portus. Akkadian māḫāzu is common for cities and trading centres. The Ugaritic port-town mḫd, Aramaic mḥwzʾ, and the place-name Maḥoza in the Babatha papyri all point the same way.