Hebrew word · H987
בַּטֻּחוֹת
uvatuchot
security
Security, safety, confident rest. It comes from בָּטַח, 'to trust, feel secure'. The word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, in a plural form that probably intensifies the idea: 'full security'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
security, safety
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
- Range of meaning
Security, safety, confident rest. It comes from בָּטַח, 'to trust, feel secure'. The word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, in a plural form that probably intensifies the idea: 'full security'.
- Against the English
Translations turn it into an adjective: 'are secure'. That is accurate, but the plural noun ('securities belong to them') makes their safety sound like a possession they hold.
- Used elsewhere in the period
BDB and HALOT list it as occurring only here. The root batach runs through Job's debate. Compare 11:18, where Zophar promised Job: 'you will be secure (u-vatachta), because there is hope.'
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 12:6 וּֽ֭בַטֻּחוֹת and securiti<es>
The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
Here: 'And securities': a plural noun from the root 'to trust, feel safe', found only here in the Bible. The plural suggests safety on every side, total security.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.