רֹ֫חַב

From the study of Ezekiel 40:6

Range of meaning

Breadth or width. It can also mean expanse or spaciousness. In building measurements it is usually the shorter dimension, or the dimension across a wall.

Against the English

"Broad" (KJV) makes a reader picture how wide the doorway is from side to side. Modern versions say "deep" because the opening is given as ten cubits wide in 40:11. This figure is the threshold's depth through the one-rod-thick wall.

How it drifted

In building descriptions Hebrew uses "breadth" relative to the structure as a whole. English "broad" always suggests side to side.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezek 40:5 has the same pairing: the wall is "one rod in breadth," meaning thickness.

From the study of 1 Kings 4:29

Range of meaning

Rōḥav means width or breadth, often in measurements of buildings, land and the temple (1 Kgs 6:2–6). Lēv, 'heart', is in Hebrew mainly the seat of thought, memory, planning and will, and also of feeling. Expressions built on 'wide heart' vary by context. In Ps 101:5 and Prov 21:4 a 'wide heart' is arrogance, a puffed-up self. In Isa 60:5 the heart 'grows wide' with joy. In Ps 119:32 God 'widens the heart' so a person can run in his ways. Here the phrase is plainly positive and paired with wisdom and understanding, so it means wide intellectual range.

Against the English

KJV 'largeness of heart' sounds to a modern reader like big-heartedness, meaning generosity, warmth or compassion. ESV, NASB and WEB 'breadth of mind' and NIV 'breadth of understanding' are much closer. NLT 'knowledge as vast as' keeps the scope but loses the spatial picture.

How it drifted

In English, 'heart' moved almost entirely to emotion and affection, while thinking moved to 'mind' and 'head'. The Hebrew lēv did not divide that way, so a literal 'heart' now points modern readers to the wrong faculty.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it platos kardias, 'breadth of heart', and the Vulgate latitudo cordis. Both are literal and carry the same ambiguity. Second Temple tradition read it as mental range: Sirach 47:14–17 praises young Solomon as 'filled like a river with understanding', whose 'soul covered the earth'.