Hebrew word · H4942

מִשְׁפְּתַ֫יִם

hamishpetayim

sheepfold

A rare dual noun ('a pair of ...'). It occurs only here and in Genesis 49:14, and a near-identical form, shephattayim, appears in Psalm 68:13 (Hebrew 68:14).

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

What it means

1) fire-places, ash-heaps

1a) meaning uncertain

2) (CLBL) sheepfolds, saddlebags

2a) meaning uncertain

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 Judges 5:16

Range of meaning

A rare dual noun ('a pair of ...'). It occurs only here and in Genesis 49:14, and a near-identical form, shephattayim, appears in Psalm 68:13 (Hebrew 68:14). Three main proposals: (1) sheepfolds/pens, possibly the double-walled stone enclosures of herding country; (2) hearths, fireplaces or ash-heaps, linked to the root šp̄t 'to set (a pot) on the fire' and to ʾashpot 'ash-heap' (BDB leans this way; the supplied gloss 'fire-places' reflects it); (3) saddlebags, the double pack slung over a donkey, which fits Genesis 49:14, where Issachar is a donkey 'lying down between the mishpetayim'.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and most modern versions have 'sheepfolds'. YLT's 'boundaries' follows the Latin Vulgate. Some versions use 'campfires' or note 'saddlebags'. Every option gives the same picture: someone settled comfortably among pastoral domestic things.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 49:14 (Issachar). Psalm 68:13, where Israelites 'lie among the shephattayim' while the battle is won. In the Greek translation of Judges, one manuscript tradition has digomia, a 'double load', i.e. saddlebags, and another just transliterates the Hebrew. The Vulgate has inter duos terminos, 'between two boundaries'. The ancient translators plainly did not know the word for sure either.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:14 הַֽמִּשְׁפְּתָֽיִם׃ the two campfires

    Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 5:16 הַֽמִּשְׁפְּתַ֔יִם the fire-places

    Why did you sit among the sheepfolds to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the clans of Reuben there was great indecision.

    Here: It has a dual ending ('a pair of ...') and appears elsewhere only in Genesis 49:14. Whatever exactly it named, it was something domestic and pastoral, either the pens or the cooking fires of a herding camp. The point is that Reuben stayed in the comforts of home.

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