מַחֲנֶה
camp
‘camp’ is one of 4 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Dual
- Exactly two — for natural pairs and some measures of time.
11 verses where H4264 appears in the Absolute state in the Book of 1 Samuel. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
1 Samuel
- 1 Samuel 4:3 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶה֒ ptcl def.art + n c bs When the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.
- 1 Samuel 4:5 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c bs When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
- 1 Samuel 4:6 בְּ/מַחֲנֵ֣ה הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶֽה prep + n c bs cs ptcl def.art + n c bs When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What means the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? They understood that the ark of Yahweh was come into the camp.
- 1 Samuel 4:7 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c bs The Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. They said, Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore.
- 1 Samuel 11:11 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶה֙ ptcl def.art + n c bs It was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it happened, that those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
- 1 Samuel 14:15 בַ/מַּחֲנֶ֤ה prep det + n c bs There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled; and the earth quaked: so there was an exceeding great trembling.
- 1 Samuel 14:21 בַּֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֖ה prep det + n c bs Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines as before, and who went up with them into the camp, [from the country] round about, even they also [turned] to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
- 1 Samuel 17:17 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c bs Jesse said to David his son, Take now for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry [them] quickly to the camp to your brothers;
- 1 Samuel 26:6 הַֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c bs Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? Abishai said, I will go down with you.
- 1 Samuel 28:1 מַֽחֲנֵי/הֶם֙ בַֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֔ה n c bp cs + sfx pers 3mp prep det + n c bs It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered their hosts together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, Know you assuredly, that you shall go out with me in the host, you and your men.
- 1 Samuel 29:6 בַּֽ/מַּחֲנֶ֔ה prep det + n c bs Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords don't favor you.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
“camp” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun מחנה (machăneh). One archaism survives in the King James Version — “host” — where modern Bibles read “camp”; see the renderings breakdown. It appears 190 verses across 20 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. First canonically at Genesis 32:2, it enters the text early. Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4264 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 190
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 190 distinct verses.
- 20 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 20 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #220
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 220 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 190 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 190 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 90 verses · 47%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 84 verses · 44%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 16 verses · 8%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Camp 121×, Host 42×, Camps 6×
- American Standard Version: Camp 128×, Host 23×, Camps 6×
- Berean Standard Bible: Camp 139×, Army 20×, Camps 11×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Camp 139×, Camp of 41×, Camps 15×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4264 across 216 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H4264 across 215 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 31 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H4264 across 206 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 20 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 9 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4264 across 218 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 7 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. camp, place of encampment:
- a. of caravan of travellers Gn 32:22 (J), especially of Isr. at Exod. and in wildern. Ex 16:13(×2) 19:16, 17 (all P; disting. from עַם); שַׁעַר מ׳ Ex 32:26 (JE); especially מִחוּץ המ׳ in connexion with uncleanness, etc., Ex 29:14; Lv 4:12 (P) + often, of position of tent of meeting Ex 33:7(×2) (JE), contr. Nu 2:17 (P), where of encampments of several tribes, cf. 1:52; 2:3; 10:2, 5, 6, 25 etc., (all P), already passing over to 3 (cf. הַחֹנִים 10:5, 6); e.g. Genesis 32:22
- b. specif. of camp of Levites, surrounding tabernacle, so that P can say אֹהֶל־מוֹעֵד מַחֲנֵה הַלְוִיִם Nu 2:17; and so (late) of temple הַשֹּׁעֲרִים לְמַחֲנוֹת בְּנֵי לֵוִי 1 Ch 9:18, as well as שַׁעֲרֵי מַחֲנוֹת י׳ 2 Ch 31:2; pl. (opp. מִבְצָרִים = fortresses) Nu 13:19. e.g. Numbers 2:17
- 2. camp of armed host Jos 6:11(×2), 14 (JE), 1 S 4:3, 5, 6(×2), 7; 17:53; 2 K 7:16 etc. e.g. Joshua 6:11
- 3.
- a. those who encamp Nu 10:5, 6; 1 Ch 11:5 ψ 27:3 (all c. vb. חנה), cf. (prob.) Is 37:36 = 2 K 19:35, etc. e.g. Numbers 10:5
- b. company, body of people; people and beasts Gn 32:8, 9(×2), 11; 33:8, funeral company of Jacob Gn 50:9; of Isr. on march Ex 14:19, 20 cf. Nu 10:5, 6. e.g. Genesis 32:8
- c. army, host Jos 8:13; 10:5; 11:4 Ju 4:15, 16(×2) 7:1, 8; 8:10(×2), 11(×2) 12 1 S 17:1, 46 2 K 3:9 even while in the thick of the fight; 1 K 22:34 = 2 Ch 18:33 etc. e.g. Joshua 8:13
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.m. Gn 33:8 + 16 times and f. ψ 27:3; 1 Ch 11:15 (on Gn 32:9a v. Di) encampment, camp—abs. מ׳ Gn 32:9(×2) + 126 times (incl. Ez 1:24, del. Co); cstr. מַחֲנֵה Gn 32:3 + 56 times; sf. מַחֲנֵהוּ Nu 1:52 + 5 times; מַחֲנֶיךָ Dt 23:15; 29:10, מַחֲנֶךָ Dt 23:15, מַחֲנֵיכֶם Am 4:10, מַחֲנֵיהֶם Nu 5:3 Ju 8:10 (cf. infr., and on form of noun c. sf. vid. Ges§ 93, 3, R 3); pl. abs. מַחֲנוֹת Gn 32:8 + 9 times; cstr. 1 Ch 9:18 + 2 times, מַחֲנִים Nu 13:19; sf. (appar. pl. n.) מַחֲנֵיהֶם Jos 10:4 + 5 times;—on du. v. מ׳ n.pr. infr.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חנה (chânâh) (H2583) — to encamp.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
מַחֲנֶה
- camp, esp. the encampment of the Israelites in the desert (v. Num. II); transferred to the limits of graded sacredness in Jerusalem (v. מְחִיצָה II). Sifré Num. 1 מַחְנֵה ישראל the camp of the Israelites (from the gate of Jerusalem to the Temple mount); מ׳ לויה the camp of the attendants (priests and Levites, from the Temple mount to the Temple court); מ׳ שכינה the camp of the Divine Majesty (from the entrance of the court and further). Ib. מ׳ ארון the camp of the Ark in the desert (= מ׳ לויה); Y. Sot. VIII, 22ᵇ bot.; a. fr.—Pl. מַחֲנוֹת. Sifré l. c. שלש מ׳ הן there are three camps of graded sacredness (= מְחִיצוֹת). e.g. Numbers 2:25
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 78 distinct written forms H4264 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 18 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4264, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- חנות chânûwth H2588 cell
- חנית chănîyth H2595 spear
- חנן chânan H2603 to be gracious
- תחנה tachănâh H8466 encampment
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 9 — not the complete family. 3 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 183 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 190 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 32:2
- Exodus 14:19
- Leviticus 4:12
- Numbers 1:52
- Deuteronomy 2:14
- Joshua 1:11
- Judges 4:15
- 1 Samuel 4:3
- 2 Samuel 1:2
- 1 Kings 16:16
- 2 Kings 3:9
- 1 Chronicles 9:18
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
