Hebrew word · H7755

שׂוֹכֹה

sokhoh

Socoh

A place name, possibly linked to sokh 'branch, thicket' (BDB), so perhaps 'Thicket'. The Old Testament has at least two towns of this name in Judah: one in the Shephelah near Azekah (Josh 15:35; 1 Sam 17:1; 2 Chr 11:7) and this one in the southern hill country.

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Shocho or Shochoh or Sochoh or Shoco or Socoh = "bushy"

a town in the lowlands of Judah

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 Joshua 15:48

Range of meaning

A place name, possibly linked to sokh 'branch, thicket' (BDB), so perhaps 'Thicket'. The Old Testament has at least two towns of this name in Judah: one in the Shephelah near Azekah (Josh 15:35; 1 Sam 17:1; 2 Chr 11:7) and this one in the southern hill country. A third, Socoh in Solomon's third district (1 Kgs 4:10), was in the Sharon plain.

Against the English

English spellings vary ('Socoh', 'Sochoh', 'Soco') across verses and versions. Readers can easily think the hill-country and lowland towns are the same place.

Used elsewhere in the period

The name Socoh (śwkh) is stamped on hundreds of royal storage-jar handles from the late 8th century BC, inscribed lmlk 'belonging to the king', together with Hebron, Ziph and the unknown mmšt. Scholars disagree about which Socoh is meant there. The town is usually identified with Khirbet Shuweikeh, about 16 km southwest of Hebron, where the old name survives.

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 15:35 שׂוֹכֹ֖ה Socoh

    Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

  2. Joshua 15:48 וְשׂוֹכֹֽה׃ and Socoh

    These were in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,

    Here: "And Socoh." This is the southern, hill-country Socoh, usually placed at Khirbet Shuweikeh southwest of Hebron. It is not the better-known Socoh in the lowlands of verse 35, near where David met Goliath (1 Sam 17:1). The verse-ending accent closes the first three names of an eleven-town group.

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 17:1 שֹׂכֹ֖ה שׂוֹכֹ֥ה Socoh

    Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 4:10 שֹׂכֹ֖ה Socoh

    Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 4:18 שׂוֹכ֔וֹ Socoh

    These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah. Mered also took a Judean wife, who gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 11:7 שׂוֹכ֖וֹ Socoh

    Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam,

  2. 2 Chronicles 28:18 שׂוֹכ֤וֹ Socoh

    The Philistines had also raided the cities of the foothills and the Negev of Judah, capturing and occupying Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, as well as Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their villages.

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