Hebrew word · H4494

מָנוֹחַ

manoach

resting

Manoach (from nuach, 'to settle, rest, come to a stop') means a resting place, a place to set down and stay, a settled home. In Ruth 3:1 Naomi seeks a manoach for Ruth, meaning a secure married home. It is closely related to menuchah, the 'rest' Deuteronomy promises in the land (12:9).

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

What it means

1) resting place, state or condition of rest, place

1a) resting place

1b) rest, repose, condition of rest

1c) coming to rest

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 Deuteronomy 28:65

Range of meaning

Manoach (from nuach, 'to settle, rest, come to a stop') means a resting place, a place to set down and stay, a settled home. In Ruth 3:1 Naomi seeks a manoach for Ruth, meaning a secure married home. It is closely related to menuchah, the 'rest' Deuteronomy promises in the land (12:9). Kaf is the hollow of the hand or the sole of the foot.

Against the English

'Resting place' (BSB, YLT) is accurate. KJV and WEB, 'neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest' / 'no rest for the sole of your foot,' keep the image but turn the noun into an abstraction, so the sense of a physical spot to stand on and call home fades.

Used elsewhere in the period

The exact phrase 'manoach for the sole of [the] foot' appears elsewhere only in Gen 8:9, where Noah's dove 'found no manoach for the sole of her foot' over the flood waters and returned to the ark. Lam 1:3 echoes our curse: Judah 'dwells among the nations; she has found no manoach.' Deut 11:24 and Josh 1:3 promise that 'every place on which the sole of your foot treads' will be Israel's. Deut 12:9–10 and 25:19 speak of Yahweh giving Israel rest from enemies in the land.

From the study of Ruth 3:1

Range of meaning

From the root nwḥ, "to settle down, come to rest". The word means a place to rest or settle: somewhere to stop moving and stay secure. It can be physical (a perch for a bird's foot), social (a settled home) or national (a homeland). BDB and HALOT both give "resting place" and "rest" in the sense of a settled state.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and WEB say "rest", which today suggests relaxation, a break or sleep. BSB says "resting place", which is closer. NASB has "security" and NIV and NLT have "home". These capture the social meaning but lose the echo of 1:9.

How it drifted

In modern English "rest" mostly means stopping work or taking a break. In Hebrew this word family means being settled after being homeless or wandering. Christian devotional use of "rest" for an inner, spiritual state (as in Hebrews 4 or Matthew 11:28) adds a further meaning the word does not carry here.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 8:9: the dove "found no mānôaḥ for the sole of her foot" and so came back to the ark. Deut 28:65: scattered Israel will find "no mānôaḥ" among the nations. Lam 1:3: exiled Judah "has found no mānôaḥ". Ps 116:7: "Return, my soul, to your resting place (menûḥāy)." The related word menûḥâ is used for the land as Israel's settled inheritance (Deut 12:9; 1 Kgs 8:56). In each case the opposite of "rest" is being displaced and having nowhere safe to land.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 8:9 מָנ֜וֹחַ a resting place

    But the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, because the waters were still covering the surface of all the earth. So he reached out his hand and brought her back inside the ark.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 28:65 מָנ֖וֹחַ a resting place

    Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

    Here: A place where you can rest and stay, a settled home (compare Ruth 3:1). It belongs to the same family of words as Deuteronomy's promised 'rest' (menuchah, 12:9) in the land, so its absence undoes that promise.

Ruth · 1

  1. Ruth 3:1 מָנ֖וֹחַ a resting place

    One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek a resting place for you, that it may be well with you?

    Here: A place where one can settle and be secure, a home base. It points back to Naomi's wish in 1:9 that each widow would find "rest" (menûḥâ, from the same root) "in the house of her husband". It means a settled home through marriage, not leisure.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 6:31 מִמְּנ֖וֹחַ from [the] rest of

    These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark rested there.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 34:14 מָנֽוֹחַ׃ a resting place

    The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 1:3 מָנ֑וֹחַ a resting place

    Judah has gone into exile under affliction and harsh slavery; she dwells among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

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