מַצֵּבָה
pillar
also: mastaba, stump 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.
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
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 14 times (44%)
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct 9 times (28%)
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute 7 times (22%)
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct 2 times (6%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 32 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H4676 appears — 31 distinct verses across 12 books. 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.
Genesis 8 verses
- Genesis 28:18 מַצֵּבָ֑ה n c fs Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
- Genesis 28:22 מַצֵּבָ֔ה n c fs then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."
- Genesis 31:13 מַצֵּבָ֔ה n c fs I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth."
- Genesis 31:45 מַצֵּבָֽה n c fs Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
- Genesis 31:51 הַ/מַצֵּבָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Laban said to Jacob, "See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you.
- Genesis 31:52 הַ/מַּצֵּבָ֑ה הַ/מַּצֵּבָ֥ה ptcl def.art + n c fs ptcl def.art + n c fs May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
- Genesis 35:14 מַצֵּבָ֗ה n c fs Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink-offering on it, and poured oil on it.
- Genesis 35:20 מַצֵּבָ֖ה n c fs Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
Exodus 3 verses
- Exodus 23:24 מַצֵּבֹתֵי/הֶֽם n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.
- Exodus 24:4 מַצֵּבָ֔ה n c fs Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
- Exodus 34:13 מַצֵּבֹתָ֖/ם n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
Leviticus 1 verse
Deuteronomy 3 verses
- Deuteronomy 7:5 וּ/מַצֵּבֹתָ֖/ם conj + n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire.
- Deuteronomy 12:3 מַצֵּ֣בֹתָ֔/ם n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.
- Deuteronomy 16:22 מַצֵּבָ֑ה n c fs Neither shall you set yourself up a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.
1 Kings 1 verse
2 Kings 6 verses
- 2 Kings 3:2 מַצְּבַ֣ת n c fs cs He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.
- 2 Kings 10:26 מַצְּב֥וֹת n c fp cs They brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them.
- 2 Kings 10:27 מַצְּבַ֣ת n c fs cs They broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine, to this day.
- 2 Kings 17:10 מַצֵּב֖וֹת n c fp and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
- 2 Kings 18:4 הַ/מַּצֵּבֹ֔ת ptcl def.art + n c fp He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for to those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
- 2 Kings 23:14 הַ/מַּצֵּב֔וֹת ptcl def.art + n c fp He broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
2 Chronicles 2 verses
- 2 Chronicles 14:3 הַ/מַּצֵּב֔וֹת ptcl def.art + n c fp for he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim,
- 2 Chronicles 31:1 הַ/מַּצֵּב֣וֹת ptcl def.art + n c fp Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
Isaiah 1 verse
Jeremiah 1 verse
Ezekiel 1 verse
Hosea 3 verses
- Hosea 3:4 מַצֵּבָ֑ה n c fs For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.
- Hosea 10:1 מַצֵּבֽוֹת n c fp Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.
- Hosea 10:2 מַצֵּבוֹתָֽ/ם n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.
Micah 1 verse
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.
מצבה — transliterated matstsêbâh — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “pillar.” Debuting at Genesis 28:18, it then recurs through the corpus. With 31 verses in 12 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. Its uses concentrate in Genesis (26% of all occurrences). Alongside “pillar” the lexicon also lists “mastaba” and “stump” — part of its full sense range. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4676 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 →
- 31
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 31 distinct verses.
- 12 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,086
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,086 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 31 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 31 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 15 verses · 48%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 14 verses · 45%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 2 verses · 6%
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: Images 13×, Pillar 9×, Image 2×
- American Standard Version: Pillars 13×, Pillar 10×, Pieces their pillars 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Pillar 11×, Sacred pillars 10×, Pillars 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Pillar 13×, Pillars 10×, Stone pillars 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4676 across 32 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 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 H4676 across 31 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 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 H4676 across 32 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4676 across 32 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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 4 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.
- a. pillar, as monument, personal memorial 2 S 18:18(×2). e.g. 2 Samuel 18:18
- b. a stone, set up (שׂים, הציב), and anointed as memorial of divine appearance Gn 28:18, 22; 31:13 (all E), 35:14(×2) (J); so also 33:20 (E), where ins. מ׳, or read מ׳ for MT מִזְבֵּחַ (We Di NowArch. ii. 18), set up (שׂים, הרים, חציב), in token of an agreement 31:45, 51, 52(×2) (all E); over grave 35:20(×2) (E). e.g. Genesis 28:18
- c. especially of sacred stones or pillars in connexion with altar, erected (בנה) by Moses Ex 24:4 (E; 12 pillars), Ho 3:4; 10:1, 2 Is 19:19; conj. also 2 K 12:10 for MT מִזְבֵּחַ Sta ZAW v (1885), 296 NowArch. l.c., but dub., v. Benzad loc.; (usually + אֲשֵׁרִים etc.): of Canaanites Ex 23:24 (E), 34:13 (J), Dt 7:5; 12:3, cf. מ׳ הַבַּעַל 2 K 3:2; 10:26, 27; Tyre, מ׳ עֻזֵּךְ, Ez 26:11, of obelisks of Heliopolis in Egypt Je 43:13; condemned for Isr. by Deut. code, and Deut. redaction of K: Dt 16:22; 1 K 14:23; 2 K 17:10; 18:4; 23:14;, 2 Ch 14:2; 31:1; cf. Mi 5:12; Lv 26:1 (H).—On maṣṣēbā v. further NowArch. ii. 18 f. BenzArch. 380 f. Dr Dt. 16:21 f. WeSkizzen iii. 99, 165 RSSem. i. 184 ff. 437 f.; 2d ed. 204 ff. 456 f.; K. 50.—Ju 9:6 v. [נָצַב] Hoph. e.g. Exodus 24:4
- 2. stock, stump of tree Is 6:13a (in sim.), so v 13b (fig.; but prob. del. as gloss). e.g. Isaiah 6:13
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.f. pillar, maṣṣēbā, stump; on this v. also Lagrange Études Bibl. 197 ff. and review by BauZMG lvii (1903), 830; also GFMEB massebah Sta Bib. Theol. i. § 55 OC WhitehouseHastDB pillar—abs. מַצֵּבָה Ho 3:4 +, מַצֶּ֫בֶת 2 S 18:18a (read הַמּ׳ 𝔊 Dr Bu Kit), v 18b Is 6:13, cstr. מַצְּבַת 2 K 3:2; 10:27, מַצֶּ֫בֶת Gn 35:14, 20; sf. מַצַּבְתָּהּ Is 6:13; pl. abs. מַצֵּבוֹת 1 K 14:23, cstr. מַצְּבוֹת 2 K 10:26, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from נצב (nâtsab) (H5324) — to stand.
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.
מַצָּבָה
- array, general assembly. Tanḥ. Nitsab. 1 (ref. to Deut. XXIX, 9) מפני מה עשאן משה מ׳ וכ׳ why did Moses call them for a general meeting? Because they were to be handed over from one administration to another. e.g. Deuteronomy 29:9
מַצֵּבָה
- pillar, statue, monument. Sifra K’dosh. introd. (idols are named) מ׳ מפני שהם עומדים matsebah, because they are made to stand. Sifré Deut. 146 (ref. to Deut. XVI, 22) ומה מ׳ שאהובה וכ׳ if the erection of a pillar which was loved (of the Lord) in the fathers, is hateful in the descendants &c. Y. Ab. Zar. IV, 44ᵃ top איזוהי מ׳, v. יְחִידִי; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 16:22
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 26 distinct written forms H4676 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4676, 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
- מצב matstsâb H4673 station
- מצב mutstsâb H4674 entrenchment
- מצבת matstsebeth H4678 pillar
- נצב nitstsâb H5325 hilt
- נצבה nitsbâh H5326 firmness
- נציב nᵉtsîyb H5333 garrison
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 29 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 31 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 28:18
- Exodus 23:24
- Leviticus 26:1
- Deuteronomy 7:5
- 2 Kings 3:2
- 2 Chronicles 14:3
- Isaiah 19:19
- Jeremiah 43:13
- Ezekiel 26:11
- Hosea 3:4
- Micah 5:13
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.
