Hebrew word · H4774

מַרְגֵּעָה

hamarge'ah

repose

Repose, quiet, a place of rest. It occurs only here. Its root rgʿ means to be at rest or settled, as in Jer 6:16 (“you will find rest [margôaʿ] for your souls”), Deut 28:65 (among the nations “you will find no repose”), and Jer 50:34 (“to give rest to the land”).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

rest, repose, place to rest

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 Isaiah 28:12

Range of meaning

Repose, quiet, a place of rest. It occurs only here. Its root rgʿ means to be at rest or settled, as in Jer 6:16 (“you will find rest [margôaʿ] for your souls”), Deut 28:65 (among the nations “you will find no repose”), and Jer 50:34 (“to give rest to the land”). A separate root spelled the same way means to stir up (Isa 51:15), which can make some passages ambiguous, but here the parallel with “rest” settles it.

Against the English

BSB, NIV and NLT say “place of repose” or “place of quiet rest”; ESV and NASB say “repose”; KJV and WEB say “refreshing”. “Refreshing” suggests renewal or revival; the Hebrew means stillness and settled calm.

How it drifted

KJV’s “refreshing” has been taken up in revival language (compare Acts 3:19, “times of refreshing”, which is a different Greek word in a different setting). This gives the word an emotional, spiritual-renewal tone that the Hebrew does not carry here.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 6:16 is a close parallel in thought: “Ask for the ancient paths… and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Deut 28:65 uses the verb in the covenant curses: in exile Israel “will find no repose”.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 28:12 הַמַּרְגֵּעָ֑ה [is] the place of rest

    to whom He has said: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.

    Here: A word that occurs only here in the Bible, from a root meaning to be still or settled. It describes calm security, the opposite of panic and frantic activity.

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