Hebrew word · H5118

נוּחַ

venoach

rest

From the root נוח, 'to settle down, come to rest, alight'. The noun refers to a place or state of settled rest. The related and far more common noun מְנוּחָה (menuchah) covers rest from enemies, a secure homeland, and a settled dwelling. It does not mean idleness.

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

What it means

resting place

Another spelling of me.nu.chah (מְנוּחָה "resting" H4496H)

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 2 Chronicles 6:41

Range of meaning

From the root נוח, 'to settle down, come to rest, alight'. The noun refers to a place or state of settled rest. The related and far more common noun מְנוּחָה (menuchah) covers rest from enemies, a secure homeland, and a settled dwelling. For a deity, 'rest' means taking up permanent residence and reigning from a fixed throne. It does not mean idleness.

Against the English

English 'resting place' can suggest a place for a nap, or even a grave ('final resting place'). The Hebrew picture is of a king who has ended his campaigns and now sits enthroned in his palace.

How it drifted

Modern 'rest' means leisure or inactivity. 'Resting place' has also become a euphemism for burial.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 132:8 and 14 use menuchah: 'This is my resting place forever; here I will sit enthroned.' 1 Chronicles 28:2 calls the planned temple 'a house of rest for the ark… the footstool of our God'. Deuteronomy 12:9–10 calls the land Israel's 'rest'. 1 Chronicles 22:9 names Solomon 'a man of rest'. Across the ancient Near East, a god's temple was his residence after victory, as when Baal receives a house in the Ugaritic texts or Marduk receives Esagila in Enuma Elish. Building-dedication texts regularly ask the god to come and dwell there.

Where it appears

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 6:41 לְֽנוּחֶ֔ךָ to resting place your

    Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.

    Here: 'To your place of rest': a very rare noun from the verb 'to settle, come to rest'. It means God's settled dwelling and seat of rule, where the wandering ark finally stops. It does not mean God becoming inactive.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 9:16 וְנ֙וֹחַ֙ and they had rest

    The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

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