medina · province, district

What it means

medina (מְדִינָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “province, district”.

A territory governed by a ruler or judge.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A region with its own governor.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Province: a territory with its own government within a kingdom. It comes from the verb דִּין, ‘judge, govern’: it is the district where someone exercises jurisdiction. It appears above all in Esther and in the books of the return from exile.

• The provinces of the Persian empire Esther 1:1Esther 3:12Esther 8:9
• Judah as a province Ezra 2:1Nehemiah 1:3
• The commanders of the provinces of Israel 1 Kings 20:14
• The province in the sage’s reflection Ecclesiastes 5:8
• The province of Elam Daniel 8:2

Historical and cultural background

Ahasuerus reigned “over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces” (Esther 1:1), and his decrees were sent “to each province according to its script and each people according to its language” (Esther 3:12; 8:9).

How we translate it

Always “province” (26 times) or “provinces” (27); in Ezra 2:1 a note explains that “the province” is Judah, then a province of the Persian Empire.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• provinces ×27
• province ×26

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• 1 Kings×4
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×3
• Esther×39
• Ecclesiastes×2
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Daniel×2

• 1 Kings 20:14

  Ahab said, “By whom?” He said, “Thus says YHWH: ‘By the young men of the commanders of the provinces.’” And he said, “Who will start the battle?” He said, “You.”

• 1 Kings 20:15

  He counted the young men of the commanders of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he counted all the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.

• 1 Kings 20:17

  The young men of the commanders of the provinces went out first. Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men have come out from Samaria.”

• 1 Kings 20:19

  So these went out from the city, the young men of the commanders of the provinces, and the troops that were after them.

• Ezra 2:1

  And these are the sons of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into exile to Babylon, and they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city,

• Nehemiah 1:3

  And they said to me, “Those who remain, who have been left from the captivity there in the province, are in great trouble and in reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is full of breaches, and its gates have been set on fire.”

• Nehemiah 7:6

  These are the sons of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into exile, and they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city,

• Nehemiah 11:3

  And these are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah lived, each on his possession in their cities, Israel, the priests, the Levites, the Nethinim, and the sons of the servants of Solomon.

• Esther 1:1

  It happened in the days of Ahasuerus, that Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Cush, over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces,

• Esther 1:3

  in the third year of his reign, he made a banquet for all his officials and his servants: the army of Persia and Media, the nobles and the officials of the provinces being before him,

• Esther 1:16

  And Memucan said before the king and the officials, “Not against the king alone has Vashti the queen committed iniquity, but against all the officials and against all the peoples that are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

• Esther 1:22

  he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to each people according to its language, that every man should be master in his house and speak according to the language of his people.

• Esther 2:3

  and let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather every young woman, a virgin of good appearance, to Susa, the fortress, to the house of the women, under the hand of Hege, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women; and let their ointments be given;

• Esther 2:18

  And the king made a great banquet for all his officials and his servants, Esther’s banquet; and he made a rest for the provinces and gave gifts according to the hand of the king.

• Esther 3:8

  And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from those of every people, and the king’s laws they do not keep; and for the king it is not worthwhile to leave them alone.

• Esther 3:12

  And the king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it was written according to all that Haman commanded, to the king’s satraps and to the governors who were over each province and to the officials of each people, to each province according to its script and each people according to its language; in the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.

• Esther 3:13

  And letters were sent by the hand of the couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to make perish all the Jews, from the young man to the old man, little ones and women, on one day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their spoil.

• Esther 3:14

  A copy of the writing, to be given as law in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready for this day.

• Esther 4:3

  And in every province, in the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping and lamenting; sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many.

• Esther 4:11

  “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes in to the king, into the inner court, who has not been called, his law is one: to put him to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, and he will live. But I have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.”

• Esther 8:5

  and she said, “If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the matter is right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to turn back the letters, the plot of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to make perish the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

• Esther 8:9

  And the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces that are from India to Cush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to each province according to its script and each people according to its language, and to the Jews according to their script and according to their language.

• Esther 8:11

  in which the king granted the Jews who were in every city permission to assemble and to stand for their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to make perish any army of any people or province that might harass them, little ones and women, and to plunder their spoil,

• Esther 8:12

  on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

• Esther 8:13

  A copy of the writing, to be given as law in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

• Esther 8:17

  And in every province, and in every city, in the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

• Esther 9:2

  The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to stretch out their hand against those who sought their harm; and no one stood before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.

• Esther 9:3

  And all the officials of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those who did the king’s work, were supporting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

• Esther 9:4

  For Mordecai was great in the house of the king, and his fame was going through all the provinces; for the man Mordecai kept growing greater.

• Esther 9:12

  And the king said to Esther the queen, “In Susa, the fortress, the Jews have killed and made perish five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the king’s provinces what have they done? And what is your request? It will be given to you. And what is your petition further? It will be done.”

• Esther 9:16

  And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed among those who hated them seventy-five thousand; but on the plunder they did not stretch out their hand.

• Esther 9:20

  And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, those near and those far,

• Esther 9:28

  and these days would be remembered and observed in every generation, each family, each province, and each city; and these days of Purim would not pass away from among the Jews, and the remembrance of them would not cease from their offspring.

• Esther 9:30

  And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,

• Ecclesiastes 2:8

  I gathered also for myself silver and gold, and the special treasure of kings and of the provinces; I made for myself male singers and female singers, and the delights of human beings, a lady and ladies.

• Ecclesiastes 5:8

  If you see the oppression of the poor and the robbing of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be amazed at the matter, for a high one watches over a high one, and higher ones over them.

• Lamentations 1:1

  How she sits alone, the city great with people! She has become like a widow, the great one among the nations; the princess among the provinces has become subject to forced labor.

• Ezekiel 19:8

  And the nations set against him from the provinces all around, and spread over him their net; in their pit he was caught.

• Daniel 8:2

  And I saw in the vision, and it happened, when I saw, that I was in Susa the fortress, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

• Daniel 11:24

  In a time of ease, and into the richest parts of the province, he will come, and he will do what his fathers did not do, nor the fathers of his fathers: plunder and spoil and goods he will scatter among them, and against fortified places he will devise his plans, but only until a time.

And 13 more times.