Hebrew word · H4407

מִלּוֹא

hamilo'

Millo

From מָלֵא 'to fill'. Literally 'filling' or 'fill': an earthen or stone fill or terrace. In Jerusalem (and at Shechem, Judg 9:6, 20, 'Beth-millo') it becomes the name of a particular structure.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Millo = "rampart" or "mound"

This name is used for a part of the fortifications of Jerusalem

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 2 Chronicles 32:5

Range of meaning

From מָלֵא 'to fill'. Literally 'filling' or 'fill': an earthen or stone fill or terrace. In Jerusalem (and at Shechem, Judg 9:6, 20, 'Beth-millo') it becomes the name of a particular structure.

Against the English

KJV, YLT, WEB, ESV and NASB keep the name 'Millo', which tells the English reader nothing. BSB and NIV-type renderings ('supporting terraces') translate the meaning, but that commits them to one identification of an uncertain structure.

How it drifted

Not drift so much as opacity. A Hebrew hearer heard 'the Fill', while an English reader hears an unexplained proper name.

Used elsewhere in the period

David built 'from the Millo inward' (2 Sam 5:9). Solomon built or rebuilt the Millo (1 Kgs 9:15, 24; 11:27, where he 'closed the breach of the city of David'). King Joash was killed at 'Beth-millo' (2 Kgs 12:20). The Septuagint here seems to render it ἀνάλημμα, 'supporting structure' or 'retaining work'. Archaeologically it is most often linked to the massive Stepped Stone Structure, a terraced stone mantle on the eastern slope of the City of David (K. Kenyon, Y. Shiloh, E. Mazar), though some locate it at the saddle between the City of David and the Temple Mount.

From the study of 1 Kings 9:15

Range of meaning

Noun from mālēʾ, 'to fill': 'filling, fill'. Used as the name of a known Jerusalem structure ('the Millo'), probably a fill or terracing that supported construction on the steep slope. Compare 'Beth-millo' at Shechem (Judg 9:6) and David's building 'from the Millo inward' (2 Sam 5:9).

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB: transliterate as 'Millo', which is accurate but opaque. BSB 'the supporting terraces' and NIV 'the terraces' interpret it as an earthwork, a likely but not certain reading.

Used elsewhere in the period

Solomon builds it again in 9:24 and 11:27, where 11:27 says he 'closed the breach of the city of David'. Hezekiah strengthens it in 2 Chr 32:5. The Septuagint of Kings usually renders it hē akra, 'the citadel'.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 5:9 הַמִּלּ֖וֹא the Millo

    So David took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built it up all the way around, from the supporting terraces inward.

1 Kings · 3

  1. 1 Kings 9:15 הַמִּלּ֔וֹא the Millo

    This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

    Here: From the verb 'to fill', so probably an earth-and-stone fill or terracing that supported buildings on Jerusalem's ridge. It was a known landmark ('the Millo'), but its exact identity is debated.

  2. 1 Kings 9:24 הַמִּלּֽוֹא׃ the Millo

    As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace that Solomon had built for her, he built the supporting terraces.

  3. 1 Kings 11:27 הַמִּלּ֔וֹא the Millo

    and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 11:8 הַמִּלּ֖וֹא the Millo

    He built up the city around it, from the supporting terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 32:5 הַמִּלּ֖וֹא the Millo

    Then Hezekiah worked resolutely to rebuild all the broken sections of the wall and to raise up towers on it. He also built an outer wall and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David, and he produced an abundance of weapons and shields.

    Here: From the verb 'to fill'. It means 'the Fill', a named structure of packed earth and stone, most likely the great terraced support on the slope of the old city. It is a description that became a name.

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