Hebrew word · H4865

מִשְׁבְּצוֹת

mishbetzot

filigree

From a root meaning to weave in a checkered or interlaced pattern (compare tašbēṣ, 'checkered' tunic, Exodus 28:4, and šibbēṣ, 'weave in checker-work', 28:39).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

plaited or filigree or chequered work (of settings for gems)

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 Exodus 39:18

Range of meaning

From a root meaning to weave in a checkered or interlaced pattern (compare tašbēṣ, 'checkered' tunic, Exodus 28:4, and šibbēṣ, 'weave in checker-work', 28:39). Used for gold settings or mounts that hold gems (28:11, 13, 14, 20, 25; 39:6, 13, 16, 18) and for gold-woven work on royal clothing (Psalm 45:13, 'interwoven with gold').

Against the English

KJV 'ouches' (an archaic word for a brooch or clasp set with jewels), BSB 'filigree settings', WEB 'settings', YLT 'embroidered things', ESV 'settings of gold filigree'. All try to name a gold mounting made of interlaced or open-work gold.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'ouches' has dropped out of English entirely, so most readers cannot tell what it means. Otherwise there is little drift, only uncertainty about the exact design.

Used elsewhere in the period

The connection with checker-weaving is a standard point in the lexicons (BDB, HALOT). Psalm 45:13 shows the word used for gold-woven luxury clothing. The Septuagint renders the settings in Exodus 28 with words such as aspidiskai, 'little shields' or 'bosses', which reads them as round mounts.

From the study of Exodus 39:6

Range of meaning

Mounts or settings for gems (Exod 28:11, 13–14, 25; 39:6, 13, 16, 18). In Psalm 45:13 (Hebrew 45:14) it describes a garment 'of gold weave'. The root sh-b-ts is used for the checkered or interwoven weave of the priest's tunic (Exod 28:4, 39).

Against the English

KJV has 'ouches', an old English word for a clasp or brooch-setting that most readers now find puzzling. WEB has plain 'settings'. BSB and ESV have 'filigree settings', which reads the root as twisted or plaited gold wirework. YLT's 'embroidered' follows the weaving sense of the root too literally.

How it drifted

'Filigree' is a reasonable inference, not a certainty. Modern readers may picture delicate lacy jewellery, while the root says only that the gold was worked in an interlaced or checkered way, perhaps a woven gold mount or a frame of plaited wire.

Used elsewhere in the period

The goldsmiths of Egypt and the Levant were already making granulated and wire-worked mounts for stones and amulets in the second millennium BC, so a woven gold setting fits the period's craft. The Septuagint renders the idea with words for being enclosed or bordered with gold.

From the study of Psalm 45:13

Range of meaning

Settings, mountings, filigree or checkered work. Related to the verb shābats, 'to weave in a checkered pattern' (Exodus 28:39) or 'to set in place'.

Against the English

KJV 'wrought gold'; BSB 'embroidered with gold'; WEB 'interwoven with gold'; YLT 'gold-embroidered work'. All of these fit the general sense. The Exodus parallels suggest gold threads or gold settings worked into the fabric, perhaps with jewels.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 28:11, 13–14, 25 and 39:6, 13, 16, 18 use it for the gold settings that hold the onyx and breastpiece stones of the high priest's ephod. The Septuagint here has 'gold-fringed' (krossōtois chrysois).

Where it appears

Exodus · 8

  1. Exodus 28:11 מִשְׁבְּצ֥וֹת filigree settings of

    Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings.

  2. Exodus 28:13 מִשְׁבְּצֹ֖ת filigree settings of

    Fashion gold filigree settings

  3. Exodus 28:14 הַֽמִּשְׁבְּצֹֽת׃ ס the filigree settings

    and two chains of pure gold, made of braided cord work; and attach these chains to the settings.

  4. Exodus 28:25 הַֽמִּשְׁבְּצ֑וֹת the filigree settings

    and fasten the other ends of the two chains to the two filigree settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front.

  5. Exodus 39:6 מִשְׁבְּצֹ֣ת filigree settings of

    They mounted the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved like a seal with the names of the sons of Israel.

    Here: Gold mounts that grip a stone. The root is used elsewhere for checkered or interwoven work, so the word probably means gold worked in plaited or interlaced fashion, which is why modern versions say 'filigree'.

  6. Exodus 39:13 מִשְׁבְּצ֥וֹת filigree settings of

    and the fourth row had a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. These stones were mounted in gold filigree settings.

  7. Exodus 39:16 מִשְׁבְּצֹ֣ת filigree settings of

    They also made two gold filigree settings and two gold rings, and fastened the two rings to the two corners of the breastpiece.

  8. Exodus 39:18 הַֽמִּשְׁבְּצֹ֑ת the filigree settings

    and they fastened the other ends of the two chains to the two filigree settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front.

    Here: The gold settings that hold the two onyx stones on the ephod's shoulders (39:6; 28:11–14). Because they are 'the' settings, the reader already knows which ones: those clasps on the shoulders.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 45:13 מִֽמִּשְׁבְּצ֖וֹת [is] from settings of

    All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.

    Here: 'Made of the settings of' gold. Elsewhere the word is used for the gold mountings of the gemstones on the high priest's vestment, so it suggests gold filigree or gold brocade worked into the cloth.

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