Hebrew word · H4468

מַמְלָכוּת

mamlekhut

kingdom

Kingship, royal rule, reign, dominion. It is an abstract noun (about ten occurrences) related to the more common mamlakah and malkhut. It refers to the authority and office of the king more than to a territory.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) kingdom, dominion, reign, sovereignty

1a) kingdom

1b) dominion, royal power

1c) reign

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 1 Samuel 15:28

Range of meaning

Kingship, royal rule, reign, dominion. It is an abstract noun (about ten occurrences) related to the more common mamlakah and malkhut. It refers to the authority and office of the king more than to a territory.

Against the English

'Kingdom' in modern English often brings a map to mind, a country with borders. Here the word means the right to rule. The land of Israel is not being taken; the throne is.

How it drifted

English 'kingdom' has shifted over time toward meaning a territory or state. In older English it more easily meant 'kingship, royal rule'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used for royal rule in Joshua 13 (the kingdom of Sihon or Og), 2 Samuel 16:3 ('the kingdom of my father'), Hosea 1:4 ('the kingship of the house of Israel'), and Jeremiah 26:1.

From the study of Hosea 1:4

Range of meaning

Royal rule, kingship, sovereignty, reign. It is a rare form, used only a handful of times (e.g., Josh 13:12–31, 1 Sam 15:28, 2 Sam 16:3, Jer 26:1). It stresses the royal office and power more than land or population. The more common word is mamlakah.

Against the English

Every major English version says 'kingdom'. Modern readers may picture a country or a population, but the word leans toward the rule: Israel's kingship as an institution.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 15:28: 'The LORD has torn the mamlekut of Israel from you today.' That verse is about removing royal authority, not destroying the nation. 2 Sam 16:3: 'the house of Israel will give me back the mamlekut of my father.'

From the study of Joshua 13:12

Range of meaning

Kingdom, royal dominion, reign. A rarer form alongside the more common mamlakhah and malkhut, used for a realm as a political unit (Josh 13:12, 21, 27, 30, 31; 1 Sam 15:28; Jer 26:1; Hos 1:4).

Against the English

'Kingdom' is accurate. It means a territorial state under a king, not a spiritual realm.

Used elsewhere in the period

Concentrated in Joshua 13, where 'the kingdom of Sihon' and 'the kingdom of Og' work as land-registry labels for the eastern territories.

Where it appears

Joshua · 5

  1. Joshua 13:12 מַמְלְכ֥וּת [the] kingdom of

    the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,

    Here: The land and people under Og's royal rule, treated as one unit; Joshua 13 uses this rarer word for the realms of Sihon and Og when describing the land given to the tribes east of the Jordan.

  2. Joshua 13:21 מַמְלְכ֗וּת [the] kingdom of

    all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.

  3. Joshua 13:27 מַמְלְכ֗וּת [the] kingdom of

    and in the valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, with the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon (the territory on the east side of the Jordan up to the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth).

    Here: The territory a king ruled. Here it means Sihon's former realm treated as a block of land, not a royal office.

  4. Joshua 13:30 מַמְלְכ֣וּת׀ [the] kingdom of

    The territory from Mahanaim through all Bashan—all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, including all the towns of Jair that are in Bashan, sixty cities;

  5. Joshua 13:31 מַמְלְכ֥וּת [the] kingdom of

    half of Gilead; and Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan. All this was for the clans of the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh, that is, half of the descendants of Machir.

    Here: Og's royal domain. Linked to 'cities', it presents these towns as the seats of his rule. This is why BSB says 'royal cities'.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 15:28 מַמְלְכ֧וּת [the] kingdom of

    So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

    Here: The office and authority of ruling, not a stretch of land. What is torn away is Saul's right to reign over Israel.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 16:3 מַמְלְכ֥וּת [the] kingdom of

    “Where is your master’s grandson?” asked the king. And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he has said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.’”

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 26:1 מַמְלְכ֛וּת [the] reign of

    At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 1:4 מַמְלְכ֖וּת [the] kingdom of

    Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Name him Jezreel, for soon I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel.

    Here: A rare word for royal rule or sovereignty, the office of king more than the territory. The same word appears in 1 Sam 15:28, where the 'kingship of Israel' is torn away from Saul.

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