Joshua 18:26

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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וְהַמֹּצָֽה

Môtsâh

H4681

“and · the · Mozah”

Conjunction + Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Proper

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: act. participle of H4680

TWOT: None

Mozah = "fountain" - one of the towns in Benjamin; site unknown

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

3: words
3: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

וְהַמֹּצָֽה Mozah H4681

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

וְהַמֹּצָֽה Mozah H4681

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְהַכְּפִירָ֖ה Chephirah H3716 occurs in 4 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 6 words from the Hebrew and 6 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 18:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Joshua 9:17 The children of Israel traveled, and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.
Judges 10:17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. The children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah.
Ezra 2:25 The children of Kiriath Arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 18:26 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהַמִּצְפֶּ֥ה וְהַכְּפִירָ֖ה וְהַמֹּצָֽה

and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 18:26 Septuagint · lemma form

καί μασσημα καί μιρων καί αμωκη

and Massema, and Miron, and Amoke;

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וּמִצְפַּיָא וּכְפִירָה וְהַמֹצָה:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 18:26 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 26. And Mizpeh] This place is celebrated in the sacred writings. Here the people were accustomed to assemble often in the presence of the Lord, as in the deliberation concerning the punishment to be inflicted on the men of Gibeah, for the abuse of the Levite's wife. Jdg 20:1-3. Samuel assembled the people here to exhort them to renounce their idolatry, 1Sa 7:5-6. In this same place Saul was chosen to be king, 1Sa 10:17. It was deemed a sacred place among the Israelites; for we find, from 1Mac 3:46, that the Jews assembled here to seek God, when their enemies were in possession of the temple.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

26. 4. Mizpeh] Not the same as the Mizpeh of ch. Jos_15:38, but either (a) the modern Neby Samwîl, or (b) the tower of Scopus. Here (a) the war against Benjamin was resolved on (Judges 20.); here (b) Samuel judged the people (1Sa_7:5-15), and (c) chose Saul as king (1Sa_10:17). 5. Chephirah, see note above, Jos_9:17; Joshua 6. Mozah and

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And Mizpeh,.... Frequent mention is made of Mizpeh in Scripture; according to Fuller (t), it was about eight miles from Gibeah; it was near Ramathon, which Josephus says (u) was forty furlongs from Jerusalem:

and Chephirah was one of the cities subject to Gibeon, Jos 9:17.

and Mozah; there was a place called Motza, near to Jerusalem, where they used to go to get willows at the feast of tabernacles (w).

(t) Pisgah-Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 209. (u) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 12. sect. 3. (w) Misn. Succah, c. 4. sect. 5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Mesphe, where Samuel assembled the people, 1 Kings vii. 5. It was regarded as a place of devotion, while the temple was in the hands of the profane, 1 Machabees iii. 46.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

26. Mizpeh — Probably the modern Neby Samwil. See note on 1Sa_7:5.

Chephirah — See Jos_9:17.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 3 words (3 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Môtsâh (“Mozah”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Môtsâh carries the sense “Mozah.” How does it shape the verse?
1 word here appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Why might the author reach for such rare wording?
This is the first place “Mozah” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Joshua 9:17, which shares the word «Chephirah», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Compare how Adam Clarke's Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
3 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 3 words in this verse.