Hebrew word · H4763

מְרַאֲשָׁוֹת

mera'ashotav

head

'Place at the head': the area near a person's head while lying down. Built from rosh, 'head'. Always in plural form.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

1) place at the head, dominion, head place

adv

2) at head place

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: 'Place at the head': the area near a person's head while lying down. Built from rosh, 'head'. Always in plural form.
Against the English: KJV has 'for his bolster', NASB and ESV 'at its head', BSB 'on its head'. BSB's 'on its head' suggests the hair was laid on the figure itself. The Hebrew names a place, 'at the head-end'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Gen 28:11, 18 (Jacob's stone); 1 Sam 26:7, 11, 12, 16 (Saul's spear and water jug at his head as he sleeps); 1 Kgs 19:6 (cake and water at Elijah's head).

Range of meaning: A noun built from ro'sh ('head'): 'the place at the head', the area by a sleeper's head. Saul's spear and water jug are 'at his head' as he sleeps (1 Sam 26:7, 11, 12, 16). Elijah wakes to find a cake and a jar of water 'at his head' (1 Kgs 19:6). Michal puts goat hair 'at the head' of the household idol in the bed (1 Sam 19:13). It always names a location near the head, never the object under it.
Against the English: KJV 'for his pillows' and YLT 'made his pillows' read it as a pillow. BSB, WEB, ESV, NIV say 'under his head'. NLT has him resting his head against it. The Hebrew only says 'at his head-place'. 'Under' is one possible reading, not a translation of the word.
How it drifted: The KJV's 'pillows' (and the many paintings of Jacob asleep on a rock) fixed the picture of a stone pillow. In modern English 'pillow' means something soft, which sets up the familiar contrast of a hard bed and a heavenly vision. That contrast is not in the Hebrew.
Used elsewhere in the period: BDB and HALOT both define it as 'place at the head'. The Greek (LXX) has pros kephalēs autou, 'at his head'. The Latin Vulgate has 'quem supposuerat capiti suo', 'which he had placed under his head', and that pushed later Western readers toward 'under'.

Range of meaning: 'The place at the head' of someone lying down: by the pillow, at the bedside. The plural form describes a location, not a number of things.
Against the English: Most versions say 'at his head' or 'by his head'. YLT's 'at his bolster' (an old word for a long pillow) is too specific.
Used elsewhere in the period: In Gen 28:11, 18 Jacob sleeps in the open with a stone at his head-place and has a vision of God. In 1 Sam 26:7, 11, 12, 16 Saul's spear and water jug stand at his head-place. In 1 Sam 19:13, 16 a goat-hair pillow is put at the head-place of the household image.

Genesis · 2

Genesis 28:11 מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו [the] place of head his

On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
Genesis 28:18 מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֔יו [the] place of head his

Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,

Here: Literally 'his head-place', the spot where a sleeper's head lies. Elsewhere it means beside or at the head, not necessarily under it (1 Sam 26:7, 1 Kgs 19:6). So the stone was at Jacob's head, perhaps as a pillow, perhaps as a guard beside it.

1 Samuel · 5

1 Samuel 19:13 מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו [the] place of head its

Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

Here: 'At his/its head-place.' This word, built from rosh ('head'), names the spot where a sleeper's head lies. Jacob's stone was set there (Gen 28:11) and so was Saul's spear (1 Sam 26:7). The 'his/its' is singular, which suggests one figure is meant despite the plural noun 'teraphim'.
1 Samuel 19:16 מְרַאֲשֹׁתָֽיו׃ [the] place of head its

And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair on its head.
1 Samuel 26:7 מְרַאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו [the] place of head his

That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him.
1 Samuel 26:11 מְרַאֲשֹׁתָ֛יו [is the] place of head his

But the LORD forbid that I should extend my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.”
1 Samuel 26:16 מְרַאֲשֹׁתָֽיו׃ [was the] place of head his

This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”

1 Kings · 1

1 Kings 19:6 מְרַאֲשֹׁתָ֛יו [was] [the] place of head his

And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Here: Built from 'head' (rosh), it means the spot beside a sleeper's head. It is the word for where Jacob set his stone (Gen 28:11) and where Saul's spear and water jug stood (1 Sam 26:7–12). The food has been set right where Elijah lies.

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