Hebrew word · H4629

מַעֲרֶה

kema'ar-

gap

Bareness, nakedness, empty space. It comes from the root ʿarah, "to be bare, laid open". The word occurs only twice: here, and in Nah 3:5, where God shows the nations Nineveh's "nakedness".

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

This name means bare space, open plain

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 7:36

Range of meaning

Bareness, nakedness, empty space. It comes from the root ʿarah, "to be bare, laid open". The word occurs only twice: here, and in Nah 3:5, where God shows the nations Nineveh's "nakedness".

Against the English

KJV "according to the proportion of every one" is a guess that misses the sense of "bare". BSB "wherever each had space", WEB "each in its space", and YLT "according to the void space of each" are closer.

How it drifted

The KJV translators were working with a very rare word and supplied a general sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB both give "bare/empty space" here. The meaning is supported by the other use in Nah 3:5 and by the well-known root ʿarah.

Where it appears

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 20:33 מִמַּֽעֲרֵה־ from [the] open place of

    So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar, and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 7:36 כְּמַֽעַר־ according to [the] clear space of

    He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.

    Here: "According to the bare space of." The root means "to be naked or bare". The designs were fitted to whatever empty surface each part offered, so no space was left plain.

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