Hebrew word · H4632
מְעָרָה
ume'arah
Mearah
As a common noun (H4631) the word means 'cave' (Gen 19:30, Lot's cave; Gen 23, the cave of Machpelah; Josh 10:16, the cave at Makkedah). As a proper name it appears only here.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Mearah = "cave"
an area or cavern in the neighbourhood east of Sidon
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
- Range of meaning
As a common noun (H4631) the word means 'cave' (Gen 19:30, Lot's cave; Gen 23, the cave of Machpelah; Josh 10:16, the cave at Makkedah). As a proper name it appears only here.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB, YLT and BSB keep 'Mearah' as a place. NIV reads 'Arah' (taking the first letter as the preposition 'from'). Some commentators translate 'the cave (that belongs) to the Sidonians.'
- Used elsewhere in the period
No ancient place called Mearah is securely known. Older geographers suggested the cave country near Jezzin, inland from Sidon (Mughâret Jezzîn). Others prefer 'from Arah' or a corruption of a known place-name. The Septuagint does not seem to have had 'Mearah' as a clear town name (see textual notes).
Where it appears
Joshua · 1
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Joshua 13:4 וּמְעָרָ֛ה and Mearah
to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites;
Here: Pointed in the Hebrew text as a place called Mearah, which is found nowhere else. The same letters spell the ordinary word for 'cave', and some read 'from Arah'. The place cannot be identified with confidence. It stood somewhere in Sidonian territory.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.