בֹּץ
bots
mire
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of בֹּץ (bots) The Hebrew word בֹּץ (bots) denotes mire—soft, muddy, or swampy ground. Based on the lexical data provided, this term appears only once in the biblical text, making it a rare word in Hebrew scripture. Its single occurrence limits our ability to observe varied contexts or nuanced applications, yet the definition itself is straightforward and concrete, referring to a physical substance rather than an abstract concept. The rarity of this word in biblical Hebrew is noteworthy. While mire and muddy terrain appear elsewhere in scripture using different Hebrew terms, the specific choice of בֹּץ in its lone occurrence suggests either a specialized or poetic usage. Without access to the specific verse where it appears, we cannot determine whether it functions literally (describing actual terrain) or metaphorically (conveying difficulty or moral degradation), though both patterns are common in biblical language. The word's isolation in the biblical corpus indicates it may have been familiar to Hebrew speakers but was not among the preferred vocabulary for describing mud or mire in most biblical contexts.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text