רַפְסֹדָה

From the study of 2 Chronicles 2:16

Range of meaning

Occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give "raft" or "float", meaning timbers fastened together to be floated or towed. Its origin is uncertain. It may be a borrowed word, possibly from Phoenician or another coastal language. No firm root has been identified.

Against the English

The KJV's "floats" is an older English word for rafts. Modern versions say "rafts". The BSB's "float them… as rafts" catches both what the logs became and how they moved. None of these is misleading. The only uncertainty is in the Hebrew word itself.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint (LXX) translates it σχεδίαις ("rafts") and the Latin Vulgate ratibus ("rafts"), so the early translators agreed on the sense. The parallel in 1 Kings 5:9 uses a different rare word, דֹּבְרוֹת (doverot), also generally taken as "rafts". Pictures confirm the practice. Reliefs from Sargon II's palace at Khorsabad (8th century BC) show logs being towed and floated along the Phoenician coast. The Egyptian Tale of Wenamun (around 1100 BC) describes cedar from Byblos being shipped overseas.