Hebrew word · H4524

מֵסַב

bimsibo

surrounds

From the root סבב, 'to go around, surround'. The basic sense is 'that which is round about': surroundings, a circuit, the area around something. In this verse most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) take it as a round table, a circle of couches, or the couch or company around which banquet guests recline.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) round thing, surroundings, round about, that which surrounds, that which is round

1a) environs

1a1) surrounding places

1a2) round about (adv)

1b) round table

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 Song of Songs 1:12

Range of meaning

From the root סבב, 'to go around, surround'. The basic sense is 'that which is round about': surroundings, a circuit, the area around something. In this verse most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) take it as a round table, a circle of couches, or the couch or company around which banquet guests recline.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, NIV and NASB say 'at his table'. ESV and NJPS say 'on his couch'. YLT's 'in his circle' stays closest to the root. 'Table' makes modern readers picture chairs around a dining table. The Hebrew points to the ring of couches where a host and guests lay at a feast.

How it drifted

English translators since the KJV supplied a familiar setting ('sitteth at his table'). The reclining banquet couch is foreign to English dining customs, so it slipped out of view.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere in the Bible the word means 'round about' or 'surroundings' (e.g., 1 Kgs 6:29; 2 Kgs 23:5, 'the places around Jerusalem'; Ps 140:9). Later Hebrew built its dining vocabulary on this root: the verb hēsēb means 'to recline at table', and Mishnah Pesahim 10:1 requires even the poorest Israelite to eat the Passover reclining (mēsēb). The Septuagint has en anaklisei autou ('in his reclining'), and the Vulgate has in accubitu suo ('on his dining couch'). Amos 6:4–6 describes the rich 'stretched out on their couches' at feasts, anointing themselves with the finest oils.

From the study of Job 37:12

Range of meaning

From savav, 'to go around'. It means what surrounds, a circuit, a circle. It is used of the carvings 'all around' the temple walls (1 Kgs 6:29), of the king's circle or couch at a banquet (Song 1:12), and of the people 'surrounding' someone (Ps 140:9).

Against the English

Translations render it 'round about', 'around and around' or 'swirl'. All of them are adequate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare in the Hebrew Bible. The verb savav is common for circling and encircling (e.g. Josh 6, the march around Jericho).

Where it appears

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 6:29 מֵסַ֣ב׀ round about

    Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

    Here: Used as an adverb: 'all the way around.' The decoration ran continuously around the rooms.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 23:5 וּמְסִבֵּ֖י and [the] surroundings of

    Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

Job · 1

  1. Job 37:12 מְסִבּ֨וֹת׀ round about

    They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth.

    Here: A plural noun from the verb 'to go around', used here as an adverb: 'in circles, round and round'. It pictures the cloud wheeling across the sky, not drifting in a straight line.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 140:9 מְסִבָּ֑י surroundings my

    May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused.

    Here: From the root sbb, 'to go around'. With 'my' attached it means 'those who encircle me', the picture of a besieged man or hunted animal. It can also be parsed as a participle of the same root, 'my encirclers'. The meaning is the same either way.

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 1:12 בִּמְסִבּ֔וֹ [was] at table his

    While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

    Here: From the root 'to go around'. Literally 'in his round', most likely the ring of couches where guests reclined at a banquet, or the couch itself. The picture is of the king reclining at a feast, not sitting upright at a dining table. No verb 'was' appears; Hebrew leaves it unstated.

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