מַלְבֵּן

From the study of Jeremiah 43:9

Range of meaning

A noun built on the word for brick (lebenah). Used rarely: 'take hold of the brick-mould' (Nahum 3:14); the Ammonites set to work at 'the malbēn' (2 Samuel 12:31, where scribal tradition has two readings). Suggested meanings are brick-mould, brick-kiln, brickworks, or brick terrace/pavement.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'brickkiln', following medieval Jewish interpreters. WEB has 'brick work', and NASB and BSB have 'brick terrace/pavement'. 'Brickkiln' gives a picture of a furnace outside a palace door, which fits the place poorly.

How it drifted

Older English followed rabbinic tradition, which read the word as 'kiln'. Modern lexicons and archaeology favour a paved area or platform.

Used elsewhere in the period

Nahum 3:14 (brick-mould); 2 Samuel 12:31. In 1886 Flinders Petrie excavated Tell Defenneh. He reported a large brick-paved platform in front of the fortress-palace, which local people called 'Qasr Bint el-Yahudi' ('Palace of the Jew's Daughter'), and he linked it with this verse.

From the study of Nahum 3:14

Range of meaning

A noun built on lebenah ('brick') with a prefix that marks a tool or place. It occurs only three times: here; 2 Sam 12:31, where David puts the Ammonites to work 'at the malbēn' (the written text has malkēn, the read text malbēn); and Jer 43:9, where it is a brick pavement or terrace at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace. Proposed meanings are (1) brick-mold, (2) brickworks or brick terrace, and (3) brick-kiln.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT say 'brick-kiln,' and BSB says 'repair the brick kiln.' Several modern versions (ESV, NASB) say 'brick mold,' and NIV says 'brickwork.' A kiln is a furnace for firing bricks. A mold is a simple open wooden frame.

How it drifted

'Brick-kiln' goes back to older Jewish and Christian interpretation (and to the 2 Sam 12:31 tradition of captives forced through kilns), and the KJV made it standard. Later work comparing Hebrew with Akkadian, the language of Assyria and Babylon, pointed toward 'mold.'

Used elsewhere in the period

The Akkadian cognate nalbanu means 'brick-mold' (CAD s.v. nalbanu). Assyrian and Babylonian kings ritually molded the first brick of a temple in a nalbanu and carried the brick basket. Mesopotamian walls were overwhelmingly built of sun-dried mudbrick formed in molds. Kiln-fired brick was costly and mostly kept for facing and pavements. Jer 43:9 shows the word could also mean laid brickwork.

From the study of 2 Samuel 12:31

Range of meaning

Brick mold, brickwork or brick terrace. In Nahum 3:14 the besieged are told 'take hold of the brick mold' to repair walls. In Jeremiah 43:9 it is a brick pavement or terrace at Pharaoh's palace.

Against the English

KJV/BSB/WEB 'brick kiln(s)', NIV 'brickmaking', YLT 'brick-kiln'. 'Kiln' implies fire. The word itself refers to the mold or brickwork, and most ancient Near Eastern bricks were sun-dried, not fired.

How it drifted

'Brickkiln' entered English through the Vulgate tradition and KJV. Combined with 'made them pass through', it suggests people being burned alive, which the word 'malben' does not itself say.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only three occurrences in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint reads πλινθεῖον, 'brick-place/brickworks'. The written consonants here, מלכן, were taken by some rabbinic readers as 'Malkan', a name for the Ammonite god Milcom (compare 'their king/Milcom' in v. 30; 1 Kings 11:5). That would give 'he made them pass through [the fire to] Molech', echoing the phrase used for child sacrifice (Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 23:10).