Hebrew word · H8240

שְׁפַתַּ֫יִם

shefatayim

ash heep

The meaning is uncertain. The dual form points to 'a pair of' something. Ezek 40:43 uses the same form for hooks or ledges a handbreadth wide in the temple's slaughtering area. A related verb, shāfat, means 'to set (a pot on the fire)' (2 Kgs 4:38; Ezek 24:3).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) probably same as מִשְׁפְּתַ֫יִם, probably fire-places or ash-heaps

1a) meaning doubtful

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 Psalm 68:13

Range of meaning

The meaning is uncertain. The dual form points to 'a pair of' something. Ezek 40:43 uses the same form for hooks or ledges a handbreadth wide in the temple's slaughtering area. The close relative mishpetayim (Gen 49:14; Judg 5:16) is where animals or idle people lie, most often rendered 'sheepfolds' or 'saddlebags'. A related verb, shāfat, means 'to set (a pot on the fire)' (2 Kgs 4:38; Ezek 24:3). This produced the guess 'a pair of hearthstones' or 'fireplace / ash-heap'.

Against the English

KJV 'pots' follows the pot-setting link. WEB 'camp fires' follows the hearth idea. BSB, ESV and NASB 'sheepfolds' and NIV 'sheep pens' follow Judges 5:16. YLT 'two boundaries' follows the Greek and Latin tradition. Each English version presents one guess as if it were certain.

How it drifted

This is uncertainty rather than drift. The risk is that readers build sermons on 'pots' (soot, grime, slavery) or 'sheepfolds' (shepherd life) when the word itself is not secure.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has 'in the midst of the klēroi' (allotments, shares). Jerome's translation from the Hebrew has 'between the boundaries' (inter medios terminos). The Vulgate, following the Greek, has inter medios cleros. Judg 5:16 is the most telling parallel: 'Why did you sit among the mishpetayim, listening to the piping for the flocks?', a rebuke to Reuben for staying home during the battle. BDB lists 'ash-heaps?' with a question mark; HALOT gives several options.

Similar words

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 68:13 שְׁפַ֫תָּ֥יִם [two] saddlebags

    Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove are covered with silver, and her feathers with shimmering gold.”

    Here: This is the riddle of the verse. The dual form means 'a pair of …'. It is almost certainly related to mishpetayim, where Issachar crouches in Gen 49:14 and where Reuben lingered instead of fighting in Judg 5:16. Guesses include sheepfolds, saddlebags, a pair of hearthstones for setting a pot on, ash-heaps and boundaries. The supplied data offers both 'ash heap' and 'saddlebags', which shows how unsettled it is.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 40:43 וְהַֽשְׁפַתַּ֗יִם and the hooks

    The double-pronged hooks, each a handbreadth long, were fastened all around the inside of the room, and the flesh of the offering was to be placed on the tables.

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