Hebrew word · H4699

מְצֻלָה

bametzulah

ravine

Depth, the deep. Mostly used of the depths of the sea (Exod 15:5; Neh 9:11; Ps 68:22; 107:24; Jonah 2:3; Mic 7:19), and in Ps 69:2, 15 of overwhelming deep water. Only here is it used of a place where plants grow.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ravine, basin, hollow

1a) apparently a place near Jerusalem

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 Zechariah 1:8

Range of meaning

Depth, the deep. Mostly used of the depths of the sea (Exod 15:5; Neh 9:11; Ps 68:22; 107:24; Jonah 2:3; Mic 7:19), and in Ps 69:2, 15 of overwhelming deep water. Only here is it used of a place where plants grow.

Against the English

KJV 'the bottom', BSB 'the hollow', WEB/NIV/NASB 'ravine', ESV/NRSV 'glen', YLT 'the shade' (following the Septuagint's link with tsel, 'shadow'). Each picks one sense of an unusual word.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'bottom' was ordinary English for low-lying valley land ('river bottoms'). Modern readers may find it odd, but it is not misleading.

Used elsewhere in the period

The related forms metsolah/metsolot are standard poetic words for the sea-depths. Ancient Near Eastern texts placed the gods' council at the meeting of the deep waters, for example El's dwelling 'at the source of the rivers' in Ugaritic texts. Some scholars hear that background here.

Where it appears

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 1:8 בַּמְּצֻלָ֑ה [were] in the hollow

    I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

    Here: Elsewhere this word family means 'the depths', usually the depths of the sea (Exod 15:5; Jonah 2:3; Mic 7:19; Ps 107:24). Here it may be a low, well-watered hollow where myrtles grow, or a hint that the scene stands at the edge of the deep, the cosmic depths. 'Hollow', 'ravine' and 'glen' are all attempts to render it.

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