Hebrew word · H4750

מִקְשָׁה

mikshah

cucumber field

Two words share these letters. One (H4750) is 'cucumber/melon field' (Isaiah 1:8), from qishshuʾ, 'cucumber' (Numbers 11:5). The other (H4749) is 'hammered or beaten metalwork', used for the hammered-gold cherubim and lampstand of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18, 31, 36).

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

What it means

place or field of cucumbers

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 Jeremiah 10:5

Range of meaning

Two words share these letters. One (H4750) is 'cucumber/melon field' (Isaiah 1:8), from qishshuʾ, 'cucumber' (Numbers 11:5). The other (H4749) is 'hammered or beaten metalwork', used for the hammered-gold cherubim and lampstand of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18, 31, 36).

Against the English

Modern versions take 'cucumber field'. WEB's 'of turned work' and YLT's 'stiff' reflect the second word, 'hammered or shaped work'. The Greek Septuagint reads 'hammered silver'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 1:8 pairs this field with a watchman's hut, a picture of the guarded crop. The Letter of Jeremiah's 'scarecrow in a cucumber bed' supports the field sense. The Septuagint supports the metalwork sense.

Similar words

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 1:8 בְמִקְשָׁ֖ה in a cucumber field

    And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.

    Here: A field of cucumber-type gourds (compare 'cucumbers' in Num 11:5), most likely the snake melon. These were low, open fields, so a hut standing in one is the only upright thing for some distance.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 10:5 מִקְשָׁ֥ה a cucumber field

    Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

    Here: A field of cucumbers or melons, as in Isaiah 1:8 ('a hut in a cucumber field'). Joined to the previous word it gives 'scarecrow of a cucumber patch'. The same letters can also mean 'hammered metalwork', and the Greek translators read it that way.

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