שָׂדֶה

From the study of Genesis 39:5

Range of meaning

Open country, a cultivated field, farmland, pasture, territory. Usually the open land outside a settlement, as opposed to the house or town.

Against the English

'Field' is accurate. Modern readers may picture a single plot, when this means the estate's whole agricultural holding.

Used elsewhere in the period

'House and field' as a pair meaning 'everything one owns' appears in Deut 28:3 ('blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed in the field') and Exod 9:19–21.

From the study of Isaiah 36:2

Range of meaning

Kabas means to wash cloth by treading, kneading and beating it in water, as distinct from rachats, washing the body. The participle khoves is the person who does this, a "fuller" or "washer." The sedeh is open ground outside the city. Together they make a place name: "Fuller's Field" or "Washer's Field."

Against the English

KJV's "fuller's field" is correct but obscure today. BSB's "Launderer's Field" and NIV's "Washerman's Field" are clearer. NLT describes it: "where cloth is washed."

How it drifted

"Fuller" dropped out of everyday English as cloth-processing was industrialised.

Used elsewhere in the period

Kabas is the standard verb for washing garments in the purity laws (e.g. Leviticus 11:25, 'he shall wash his clothes'). It also appears in Psalm 51:2 [Hebrew v. 4], 'wash me thoroughly,' and in Malachi 3:2, 'fullers' soap' (borit mekhabbesim). Fulling used water and alkaline cleansers and was smelly work, so it was done outside the walls near water.

From the study of 2 Samuel 9:7

Range of meaning

Open field, cultivated land, countryside. Followed by a person's name, it means that person's landholding or estate.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and WEB "land" and YLT "field" (more literal). "Land" is fine, as long as readers understand a farming estate, not territory or a kingdom.

Used elsewhere in the period

Compare "the field of Ephron" (Gen 23:17) and "the field of Boaz" (Ruth 2:3). In Israel, family land (nachalah, the inherited portion) was ideally inalienable: it stayed in the family line (Lev 25; Num 27; 1 Kgs 21, Naboth's vineyard).