Hebrew word · H4866
מַשְׁבֵּר
mashber
birth
A place noun from shavar, 'to break'. It means (1) the place of breaking-through in birth, the mouth of the womb (here; 2 Kgs 19:3; Hos 13:13), and (2) breakers, the crashing waves of the sea (Ps 42:7; 88:7; 93:4; Jonah 2:3).
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) place of breaking forth, place of breach, opening
1a) of womb
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
- Range of meaning
A place noun from shavar, 'to break'. It means (1) the place of breaking-through in birth, the mouth of the womb (here; 2 Kgs 19:3; Hos 13:13), and (2) breakers, the crashing waves of the sea (Ps 42:7; 88:7; 93:4; Jonah 2:3). Some older interpreters took it as a birthing-stool, but the Hosea parallel favours the opening of the womb.
- Against the English
KJV and WEB 'the birth', BSB and ESV 'the point of birth', NIV 'the moment of birth'. All carry the idea of the critical moment. None keeps the 'breaking' picture: the child is at the breach and the passage must open now.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Hos 13:13: Ephraim is an unwise son who 'does not present himself at the mashber of children'. Isa 66:9 uses the matching verbs: 'Shall I bring to the breaking-point (ashbir) and not cause to bring forth (olid)? says the LORD'. That looks like a deliberate answer to the despair of 37:3.
- Range of meaning
A noun from šāvar, 'to break': 'place of breaking (through)'. In birth contexts it means the mouth of the womb, where the child breaks out (2 Kgs 19:3 = Isa 37:3; Hos 13:13). A word with the same spelling (H4867) means the 'breakers' of the sea (Ps 42:7; 88:7; Jonah 2:3; Ps 93:4).
- Against the English
KJV/YLT's 'breaking forth of children' keeps the root picture of breaking. BSB/WEB/NIV/ESV 'opening of the womb' is anatomically clear but loses the sense of rupture and danger in the word.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The exact phrase mišbar bānîm appears in Hezekiah's message during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC: 'children have come to the breaking-place, and there is no strength to give birth' (2 Kgs 19:3; Isa 37:3). It was evidently a proverbial saying for a crisis that cannot be resolved. The Septuagint here renders it syntribē, 'crushing, destruction', reading the root in its ordinary sense.
Where it appears
2 Kings · 1
-
2 Kings 19:3 מַשְׁבֵּ֔ר birth
to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
Isaiah · 1
-
Isaiah 37:3 מַשְׁבֵּ֔ר birth
to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
Here: From shavar, 'to break'. It is the place where the child breaks through, the opening of the womb at the moment of birth (Hos 13:13). Elsewhere the same word means breaking waves (Ps 42:7). This is the point of no return in labour.
Hosea · 1
-
Hosea 13:13 בְּמִשְׁבַּ֥ר at birth of
Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.
Here: 'At the breaking-place'. From the root 'to break'; it means the place where the child breaks through, the mouth of the womb. It is the exact point of crisis in a birth.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.