Hebrew word · H624

אָסֹף

ba'asupei

storehouse

A plural noun from the root 'asaf, 'to gather or collect'. It means stores or storehouses, places where offerings and supplies were collected and kept. It appears only a few times: here, in v. 15 ('the house of the asuppim'), and in Neh 12:25 ('the storehouses of the gates').

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) what is gathered, store, storing, storehouse

2) (CLBL) threshold (metonomy)

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 1 Chronicles 26:17

Range of meaning

A plural noun from the root 'asaf, 'to gather or collect'. It means stores or storehouses, places where offerings and supplies were collected and kept. It appears only a few times: here, in v. 15 ('the house of the asuppim'), and in Neh 12:25 ('the storehouses of the gates').

Against the English

KJV leaves it as a proper name ('toward Asuppim'), so it reads like a building or place called 'Asuppim'. Modern versions translate it as 'storehouse(s)'.

How it drifted

The early English translators were unsure what this rare word meant, so they followed the habit of transliterating it as a name. Lexicons such as BDB and HALOT later settled that it is a common noun from 'asaf.

Used elsewhere in the period

Neh 12:25 links the 'asuppim' with the gates and the gatekeepers who guarded them. In 1 Chr 26:15 the house of the asuppim falls by lot to the sons of Obed-edom at the south gate. Later in the chapter (26:20–28) the Levites guard the temple treasuries, and this belongs to the same picture.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 26:15 הָאֲסֻפִּֽים׃ the store<s>

    The lot for the South Gate fell to Obed-edom, and the lot for the storehouses to his sons.

  2. 1 Chronicles 26:17 וְלָאֲסֻפִּ֖ים and for the storehouses

    Each day there were six Levites on the east, four on the north, four on the south, and two pairs at the storehouse.

    Here: 'And for the storehouses.' The word comes from the verb 'to gather', so it means places where goods were collected and kept. It points back to the storehouse given by lot to Obed-edom's sons in v. 15. It is a common noun, not a place name.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 12:25 בַּאֲסֻפֵּ֖י at [the] storerooms of

    Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.

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