Hebrew word · H5199

נְטֹפָה

netofah

Netophah

A place name for a village near Bethlehem. Its people are called "Netophathites". The name is probably from the root n-ṭ-p, "to drip".

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

What it means

Netophah = "dropping"

a town in Judah resettled by the exiles returning from Babylon with Zerubbabel

Also named: ne.to.pha.ti (נְטֹפָתִי "Netophathite" H5200)

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 Nehemiah 7:26

Range of meaning

A place name for a village near Bethlehem. Its people are called "Netophathites". The name is probably from the root n-ṭ-p, "to drip".

Against the English

Simply written as "Netophah" in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Two of David's elite warriors, Maharai and Heleb (Heldai), were Netophathites (2 Samuel 23:28–29; 1 Chronicles 27:13, 15). Seraiah the Netophathite was an army officer under Gedaliah after Jerusalem fell (2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8). Levites and temple singers lived in "the villages of the Netophathites" (1 Chronicles 9:16; Nehemiah 12:28). The site has been placed at Khirbet Bedd Faluh, southeast of Bethlehem, though this is not certain.

Similar words

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 2:22 נְטֹפָ֖ה Netophah

    the men of Netophah, 56;

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 7:26 וּנְטֹפָ֔ה and Netophah

    the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188;

    Here: A village close to Bethlehem. Its name probably comes from the root n-ṭ-p, "to drip", so perhaps "dripping" or "spring". Here it is joined with Bethlehem in a single head count.

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