Hebrew word · H4708

מִצְפֶּה

mitzpeh

Mizpeh

A noun from the verb ṣāphāh, "to watch, keep a lookout, spy out". As an ordinary word it means a watch-post or lookout point (e.g. Isaiah 21:8; 2 Chronicles 20:24, "the watchtower of the wilderness").

Appears 6 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Mizpeh = "watchtower"

a place in Gilead

Another name of ra.mot gi.l.ad (רָמֹת "Ramoth" H7433)

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 Joshua 15:38

Range of meaning

A noun from the verb ṣāphāh, "to watch, keep a lookout, spy out". As an ordinary word it means a watch-post or lookout point (e.g. Isaiah 21:8; 2 Chronicles 20:24, "the watchtower of the wilderness"). As a name it is attached to several high or strategic places: Mizpah of Benjamin (Tell en-Nasbeh, the gathering place in Judges 20 and 1 Samuel 7), Mizpah of Gilead (Genesis 31:49; Judges 11), the "land of Mizpah" near Hermon (Joshua 11:3), Mizpeh of Moab (1 Samuel 22:3), and this town in the Judean foothills.

Against the English

English versions transliterate it as "Mizpeh" or "Mizpah", so the reader loses the fact that the name was a plain, transparent word. A Hebrew speaker heard "the Lookout", much as an English speaker hears "Watchtower Hill".

How it drifted

Because the name is transliterated and not translated, English readers can treat all the Mizpahs as one famous place. Popular use of Genesis 31:49 (the so-called "Mizpah benediction") makes this worse.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun and the verb ṣāphāh are common throughout Biblical Hebrew. The Septuagint usually transliterates the name (Massēpha and similar forms), though it sometimes translates the common noun as "lookout" (skopia). Lookout names are typical of the hill-country and foothill landscape, where towns on ridges overlooked the valleys and roads.

From the study of Judges 11:29

Range of meaning

A lookout or watchpost, from the verb tsafah, "to keep watch." It became a place name for several high sites in Israel, including this one in Gilead and another in Benjamin (Judges 20:1).

Against the English

English versions transliterate it as "Mizpah" or "Mizpeh," which is right for a place name but hides the picture of a high lookout point.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 31:49 connects a Mizpah in the Gilead hills with the boundary pact of Jacob and Laban ("may Yahweh keep watch between you and me"), though whether it is the same site is uncertain. Compare Ramath-mizpeh in Joshua 13:26. The exact location of Jephthah's Mizpah has not been securely identified. Greek witnesses translate it as skopia, "lookout" (see textual notes).

Where it appears

Joshua · 3

  1. Joshua 11:8 מִצְפֶּ֖ה Mizpah

    and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

    Here: 'Lookout' or 'watch-post', a common place name. This is the northern Mizpah 'under Hermon' (11:3), not the better-known Mizpah in Benjamin.

  2. Joshua 15:38 וְהַמִּצְפֶּ֖ה and <the> Mizpah

    Dilan, Mizpeh, Joktheel,

    Here: An ordinary Hebrew word, "lookout" or "watch-post", used here as a place name. That is why it has the article: literally "the Lookout". This is a foothill town of Judah and not the better-known Mizpah of Benjamin or the Mizpah in Gilead. Its exact site has not been identified.

  3. Joshua 18:26 וְהַמִּצְפֶּ֥ה and <the> Mizpah

    Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 11:29 מִצְפֵּ֣ה וּמִמִּצְפֵּ֣ה Mizpah of, and from Mizpah of

    Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, then through Mizpah of Gilead. And from there he advanced against the Ammonites.

    Here: "The Lookout of" Gilead. This is Israel's rallying point (10:17), the place where Jephthah spoke his terms before Yahweh (11:11), and the site of his home (11:34).

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 22:3 מִצְפֵּ֣ה Mizpah of

    From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”

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