Hebrew word · H4492
מִנְהָרָה
haminharot
cave
This word occurs only here in the Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from its root and from how ancient translators handled it. There are two main proposals. (1) It comes from nahar, "to flow" (the root of nahar, "river"), and means channels or ravines cut by water, or clefts in the rock.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) crevices, ravines, mountain clefts, den, dugout holes
1a) meaning uncertain
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
- Range of meaning
This word occurs only here in the Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from its root and from how ancient translators handled it. There are two main proposals. (1) It comes from nahar, "to flow" (the root of nahar, "river"), and means channels or ravines cut by water, or clefts in the rock. BDB leans this way. (2) It comes from a root nhr, "to shine, give light" (cf. nehara, "light", Job 3:4), and means holes or shafts that let light into underground hiding places. HALOT and others leave it as "hiding place, hole?" with a question mark.
- Against the English
KJV/ESV/NASB/WEB "dens"; NIV "mountain clefts"; BSB "shelters"; NLT "hiding places"; YLT "flowings" (a strict root-based guess). Each English choice is a guess at an uncertain word. None is simply wrong, but "dens" brings in a picture of animal lairs that the Hebrew does not require.
- How it drifted
In 1611 "den" commonly meant any cave or hollow, as in "dens and caves of the earth". Today it suggests an animal's lair or a cosy room in a house.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Greek translations of Judges differ here, as they often do in this book. One tradition is generally reported as "holes/openings" (trymalias), another as "pens/enclosures" (mandras), which shows that the ancient translators were unsure too. The Latin Vulgate has something like "antra" (hollows). The closest parallel list is 1 Sam 13:6, where Israelites hide from the Philistines "in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tombs and in pits".
Where it appears
Judges · 1
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Judges 6:2 הַמִּנְהָרוֹת֙ the dens
and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
Here: This word occurs only here in the Bible, so its exact meaning is uncertain. It is some kind of hollow or channel in the mountains used for hiding: perhaps ravines cut by water, or holes and shafts dug into the rock.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.