Hebrew word · H4568
מַעֲבֶה
bema'aveh
thickness
Found only here. It comes from ‘-b-h, 'to be thick' (compare ‘ovi, 'thickness,' used of a metal rim in 1 Kings 7:26 and Jeremiah 52:21). The meaning is 'thickness, density, compactness.' Joined with 'ground,' it means dense, compact earth, that is, clay.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
thickness, compactness
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 1 Kings 7:46
- Range of meaning
Found only here. It comes from ‘-b-h, 'to be thick' (compare ‘ovi, 'thickness,' used of a metal rim in 1 Kings 7:26 and Jeremiah 52:21). The meaning is 'thickness, density, compactness.' Joined with 'ground,' it means dense, compact earth, that is, clay.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB, ESV and NASB say 'clay ground,' a fair reading of 'dense soil.' BSB, NIV and NLT say 'clay molds,' which goes a step further and names what the clay was used for. That is probably right, but it is interpretation. YLT's 'thick soil of the ground' is the most literal.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The parallel in 2 Chronicles 4:17 uses the related noun: ba‘avi ha'adamah, 'in the thickness of the ground.' The Latin Vulgate's in argillosa terra, 'in clayey earth,' is the source of the KJV's 'clay ground.' Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'compactness, density.' Some modern scholars propose the emendation 'at the fords of Adamah' (see variants).
Where it appears
1 Kings · 1
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1 Kings 7:46 בְּמַעֲבֵ֖ה in [the] mold of
The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.
Here: 'In the thickness of.' The word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. It comes from the root ‘-b-h, 'to be thick, dense.' It describes dense, compact soil, the kind of clay that holds a mold's shape.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.