Hebrew word · H4495

מָנוֹחַ

manoach

Manoah

A personal name. It is identical in form to the noun manoach, 'resting place, place of rest or security', from the root nuach, 'to rest, settle'.

Appears 18 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living before Israel's Monarchy, first mentioned at Jdg.13.2;

father of: Samson (H8123)

§ Manoah = "rest"

a Danite, father of the judge Samson and inhabitant of Zorah

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 Judges 13:2

Range of meaning

A personal name. It is identical in form to the noun manoach, 'resting place, place of rest or security', from the root nuach, 'to rest, settle'.

Against the English

English versions transliterate the name, as they should, but readers miss that it sounds like a common Hebrew word.

Used elsewhere in the period

The common noun appears in Gen 8:9 (the dove found 'no resting place'), Deut 28:65, Ruth 3:1 (Naomi seeks 'rest', meaning a secure home, for Ruth), and Ps 116:7. As a personal name it is used only for Samson's father.

From the study of Judges 13:22

Range of meaning

A personal name built on the root nûaḥ, "to rest, settle." The common noun mānôaḥ means "resting place" or "rest" (Gen 8:9; Ruth 3:1; Deut 28:65).

Against the English

English readers see only a name; a Hebrew listener would hear "Rest."

Used elsewhere in the period

Only Judges 13–16 uses it as a name. As a common noun it appears in Genesis 8:9, Deuteronomy 28:65, Ruth 3:1, and elsewhere.

Similar words

Where it appears

Judges · 18

  1. Judges 13:2 מָנ֑וֹחַ [was] Manoah

    Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

    Here: A personal name. It is spelled the same as the common noun manoach, 'resting place', from the root meaning 'rest'. The narrator does not comment on the meaning.

  2. Judges 13:8 מָנ֛וֹחַ Manoah

    Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”

  3. Judges 13:9 מָנ֑וֹחַ וּמָנ֥וֹחַ Manoah, and Manoah

    And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

    Here: The father, a Danite from Zorah (13:2). His name sounds like the Hebrew word for 'rest'. He is named; his wife never is.

  4. Judges 13:11 מָנ֖וֹחַ Manoah

    So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

  5. Judges 13:12 מָנ֔וֹחַ Manoah

    Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

  6. Judges 13:13 מָנ֑וֹחַ Manoah

    So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.

  7. Judges 13:15 מָנ֖וֹחַ Manoah

    “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

  8. Judges 13:16 מָנ֗וֹחַ מָנ֔וֹחַ Manoah

    And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.

  9. Judges 13:17 מָנ֛וֹחַ Manoah

    Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”

  10. Judges 13:19 מָנ֜וֹחַ וּמָנ֥וֹחַ Manoah, and Manoah

    Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.

  11. Judges 13:20 וּמָנ֤וֹחַ and Manoah

    When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

  12. Judges 13:21 מָנ֣וֹחַ מָנ֔וֹחַ Manoah

    And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD.

  13. Judges 13:22 מָנ֛וֹחַ Manoah

    “We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

    Here: A Danite from Zorah, Samson's father. His name is built on the root for "rest" (nuach). That is a quiet irony, because in this scene he is anything but at rest.

  14. Judges 16:31 מָנ֣וֹחַ Manoah

    Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

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