Hebrew word · H4543

מִסְכְּנוֹת

miskenot

storage

Storage or supply cities: walled centers where the state kept grain, provisions and equipment, often on military routes. Miskənôt on its own can mean 'storehouses' (2 Chr 32:28). It is probably a loanword related to Akkadian maškanu, 'storage place, depot' (HALOT; BDB).

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

supply, storage, storage house, magazine

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 Exodus 1:11

Range of meaning

Storage or supply cities: walled centers where the state kept grain, provisions and equipment, often on military routes. Miskənôt on its own can mean 'storehouses' (2 Chr 32:28). It is probably a loanword related to Akkadian maškanu, 'storage place, depot' (HALOT; BDB).

Against the English

KJV's 'treasure cities' gives modern readers the wrong picture of gold and royal treasuries. Every other English version listed has 'store' or 'storage cities', and NLT has 'supply centers', all of which are accurate. The Septuagint has 'fortified cities', and the Vulgate has urbes tabernaculorum, roughly 'cities of storehouses'.

How it drifted

In 1611 'treasure' could still mean any stored-up supply ('treasure of corn'). Today it means precious valuables.

Used elsewhere in the period

Solomon builds 'all the store cities' (1 Kgs 9:19; 2 Chr 8:4, 6). Asa and Jehoshaphat have store cities in Naphtali and Judah (2 Chr 16:4; 17:12), and Hezekiah has storehouses for grain, wine and oil (2 Chr 32:28). Egyptian New Kingdom records describe granaries and supply depots on the eastern Delta frontier that supplied armies marching into Canaan.

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 1:11 מִסְכְּנוֹת֙ storage

    So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

    Here: "Storage": depots for stockpiling grain, provisions and supplies for the state and its army. The only other places the phrase 'store cities' appears are Solomon's building lists (1 Kgs 9:19; 2 Chr 8:4, 6).

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 9:19 הַֽמִּסְכְּנוֹת֙ <the> storage

    as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

2 Chronicles · 5

  1. 2 Chronicles 8:4 הַֽמִּסְכְּנ֔וֹת <the> storage

    He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.

  2. 2 Chronicles 8:6 הַֽמִּסְכְּנוֹת֙ <the> storage

    as well as Baalath, all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

  3. 2 Chronicles 16:4 מִסְכְּנ֖וֹת [the] stores of

    And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, conquering Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

  4. 2 Chronicles 17:12 מִסְכְּנֽוֹת׃ storage

    Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger, and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah

  5. 2 Chronicles 32:28 וּמִ֨סְכְּנ֔וֹת and storehouses

    He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks.

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