Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

m^enûchâh - מְנוּחַה (Strong's #4496)
Rest, resting place

m^enûchâh 'rest, resting place' מְנוּחַה (Strong's #4496)

"But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot" (Genesis 8:9, JPS)

מְנוּחַה m^enûchâh "rest, resting place" (Strong's #4496, x21) like מָנוֹחַ mânôwach "rest" (Strong's #4494, x7) comes from the root verb נוּחַ nûwach (Strong's #5117, x64) "to rest, settle". The first use of either word comes in the Flood narrative where Noah sends out a dove to test the waters. Now Noah's name in Hebrew is נחַ nôach (Strong's #5146, x46) or fully נוֹחַ nôwach (Strong's #5118, x4), is also from נוּחַ nûwach. So there is a wordplay with Genesis 8:9 almost saying "But the dove found no מָנוֹחַ mânôwach ma-Noah for the sole of her foot".

In Deuteronomy 28:65 "Among these nations shalt thou have no repose, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot" מָנוֹחַ mânôwach is paralleled with רָגַע râgha‘ (Strong's #7280, x13) a verb that has the meaning of stirring up or causing fearful retreat but equally when causative "to shrink back, cause to settle". So in this case disobedience leads to a lack of rest and calm, and nowhere to place one's foot safely.

The story of Ruth and Naomi is well known but in two verses 1:9 and 3:1 מְנוּחַה m^enûchâh is used of the state of rest within a marital home, a state of not seeking, lacking provision and shelter.

Indeed, Isaiah 32:18 has a triple parallel between, peace||secure||quiet echoing each other and habitation||dwellings||resting places, all three word pairs are closely synonymous:

"And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, שָׁלוֹם shâlôwm (Strong's #7965)
and in secure dwellings, מִבְטָח mibh'tâch (Strong's #4009) "trust, confidence, refuge"
and in quiet resting-places (מְנוּחַה m^enûchâh)"

שָׁלוֹם shâlôwm is also connected to "rest" in the prophetic naming of שְׁלמה shelômôh (Strong's #8010, x293) who was to be "a man of rest", מְנוּחַה m^enûchâh (I Chronicles 22:9).

Curiously, the Greek Septuagint LXX translation, of the Isaiah verse above, translates the last phrase as "wealth". Another odd translation comes at the end of Jeremiah 51:59: "Seraiah was the quartermaster/chamberlain" although other versions like the NIV omit this entirely and the KJV (as well as Young's and Webster's) renders it as a "quiet prince" since the Hebrew is שַׂר מְנוּחַה sar m^enûchâh. Some see this as a chief of peace, or custodian of "gifts" on the basis of the Aramaic Targum and Septuagint assuming the very similar, in the absence of vowels - as the original was, מִנְחָה min'châh (Strong's #4503, x211) "gift, tribute" is the Hebrew instead.

The ideas of gift and rest are otherwise related when God describes his delaying the people of the Exodus from entering his "rest", the gift/heritage/inheritance of the promised land (Deuteronomy 12:9; Psalm 95:10-11).

Whilst "rest" is mostly applied to land or habitations, מְנוּחַה m^enûchâh also finds itself attached to the "quiet" or "still waters" of Psalm 23:2, in the Septuagint - "water of rest".

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