makom · place

What it means

makom (מָקוֹם) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “place”.

Spot; the space someone or something occupies; also a home or a holy place.

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 place, a spot.
2. The place YHWH chooses for his name.
3. Free room to fit in, a spot with enough space.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Place, spot. BDB defines it as a standing, a spot, and generally a locality, definite or not; figuratively, a condition.

• Any place Genesis 1:9
• The place that God points out Genesis 22:3Exodus 3:5
• A place where God shows himself: “How fearsome is this place!” Genesis 28:17
• “The place that YHWH your Elohim chooses” to put his name Deuteronomy 12:5

Historical and cultural background

Deuteronomy 12:5-14 commands that burnt offerings and sacrifices be brought not to just any place, but to “the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses out of all your tribes to put his name there”.

How we translate it

“Place” 370 times, “places” 20, “room” 4. It is translated “place” consistently, so that the reader recognizes the expression “the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses” throughout Deuteronomy.

How it is translated

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

• place ×370
• places ×20
• room ×4
• site ×2
• distance ×1
• ground ×1
• home ×1
• spot ×1
• wherever ×1

Where it appears

• Genesis×47
• Exodus×10
• Leviticus×24
• Numbers×19
• Deuteronomy×33
• Joshua×9
• Judges×14
• Ruth×3
• 1 Samuel×24
• 2 Samuel×12
• 1 Kings×16
• 2 Kings×13
• 1 Chronicles×8
• 2 Chronicles×21
• Ezra×5
• Nehemiah×6
• Esther×3
• Job×21
• Psalms×8
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×9
• Isaiah×17
• Jeremiah×46
• Ezekiel×17
• Hosea×2
• Joel×1
• Amos×2
• Micah×1
• Nahum×2
• Zephaniah×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 1:9

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

• Genesis 12:6

  Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.

• Genesis 13:3

  He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

• Genesis 13:4

  to the place of the altar that he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of YHWH.

• Genesis 13:14

  YHWH said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

• Genesis 18:24

  Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; will you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

• Genesis 18:26

  YHWH said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

• Genesis 18:33

  YHWH went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

• Genesis 19:12

  Then the men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place,

• Genesis 19:13

  for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become great before YHWH, and YHWH has sent us to destroy it.”

• Genesis 19:14

  So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for YHWH is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to be joking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

• Genesis 19:27

  Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before YHWH.

• Genesis 20:11

  Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely there is no fear of Elohim in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’

• Genesis 20:13

  And when Elohim caused me to wander from the house of my father, I said to her, ‘This is the loyal love that you shall show me: in every place that we come to, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

• Genesis 21:31

  That is why he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore.

• Genesis 22:3

  Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he rose and went to the place that Elohim had told him.

• Genesis 22:4

  On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

• Genesis 22:9

  They came to the place that Elohim had told him, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

• Genesis 22:14

  Abraham called the name of that place YHWH Yireh, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of YHWH it will be seen.”

• Genesis 24:23

  and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

• Genesis 24:25

  She also said to him, “We have both straw and fodder in plenty, and also room to spend the night.”

• Genesis 24:31

  He said, “Come in, blessed of YHWH! Why do you stand outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”

• Genesis 26:7

  The men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful in appearance.”

• Genesis 28:11

  He came upon the place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place and put it at his head, and lay down in that place.

• Genesis 28:16

  Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely YHWH is in this place, and I did not know it.”

• Genesis 28:17

  He was afraid and said, “How fearsome is this place! This is none other than the house of Elohim, and this is the gate of the heavens.”

• Genesis 28:19

  He called the name of that place Bethel, but Luz was the name of the city at first.

• Genesis 29:3

  When all the flocks were gathered there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put back the stone on the mouth of the well in its place.

• Genesis 29:22

  Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.

• Genesis 29:26

  Laban said, “It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.

• Genesis 30:25

  When Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, so that I may go to my own place and to my land.

• Genesis 31:55

  Laban rose early in the morning, kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban went and returned to his place.

• Genesis 32:2

  Jacob said when he saw them, “This is the camp of Elohim!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

• Genesis 32:30

  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life has been delivered.”

• Genesis 33:17

  But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

• Genesis 35:7

  He built there an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there Elohim had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

• Genesis 35:13

  Then Elohim went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.

• Genesis 35:14

  Jacob set up a standing stone in the place where he had spoken with him, a standing stone of stone; he poured out a libation on it and poured oil on it.

• Genesis 35:15

  Jacob called the name of the place where Elohim had spoken with him Bethel.

• Genesis 36:40

  These are the names of the chieftains of Esau, according to their families, by their places, by their names: the chieftain Timna, the chieftain Alvah, the chieftain Jetheth,

And 361 more times.