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# מְצוּדָה

Biblical Hebrew

**fastness** — used 18 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

fastness [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/lemma_3a_5de_5b0_5e6_5d5_5bc_5d3_5b8_5d4/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

מְצוּדָה²: n.f. fastness, stronghold [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/lemma_3a_5de_5b0_5e6_5d5_5bc_5d3_5b8_5d4/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.f. fastness, stronghold;—abs. מ׳ 1 S 22:4 +, מְצֻדָה 2 S 5:9, cstr. מְצֻדַת v 7; sf. מְצוּדָתִי ψ 18:3 +, מְצֻדָתִי 2 S 22:2; pl. מְצוּדוֹת ψ 31:3;—fastness of David, 1 S 22:4, 5; 24:23 (Gi v 22) 2 S 5:17; 23:14 = 1 Ch 11:16; read also מְצֻדַת עֲדֻלָּם 1 S 22:1 2 S 23:13 1 Ch 11:15, for MT מְעָרַת (v. מְעָרָה p. 792 b); of Jerus., מְצֻדַת צִיּוֹן 2 S 5:7 = 1 Ch 11:5, cf. 2 S 5:9; home of eagle Jb 39:28 (+ שֶׁן־סֶלַע); elsewhere fig. of י׳ ψ 18:3 = 2 S 22:2, ψ 31:4; 71:3 (all + סַלְעִי), 91:2 (+ מַחְסִי), 144:2 (+ חַסְדִּי, but this dub., Krochm Gr Che חִסְנִי, Dy חִזְקִ, Du סַלְעִי; poss. is מַחְסִי); also בֵּית מְצוּדוֹת 31:3.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 17 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses (4 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (4 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: stronghold (13); the stronghold (2); a stronghold (1).

## In the verses

[2 Samuel 5:7](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.5.7/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/2SA.5.7/#tree)

וַיִּלְכֹּ֣ד דָּוִ֔ד אֵ֖ת מְצֻדַ֣ת צִיּ֑וֹן הִ֖יא עִ֥יר דָּוִֽד׃

*Word for word:* and he.captured David (et) the.stronghold of.Zion that \[is\].the.city of.David

*JPS 1917:* Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David.

[Job 39:28](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.39.28/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.39.28/#tree)

סֶ֣לַע יִ֭שְׁכֹּן וְיִתְלֹנָ֑ן עַֽל־שֶׁן־סֶ֝֗לַע וּמְצוּדָֽה׃

*Word for word:* a.rock it.dwells and it.passes.the.night on \[the\].tooth of.a.rock and a.stronghold

*JPS 1917:* She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the stronghold.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/lemma_3a_5de_5b0_5e6_5d5_5bc_5d3_5b8_5d4/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).