יִדְבָּשׁ

# Idbash: A Hapax Legomenon in Biblical Hebrew Idbash (H3031) is an extremely rare word in the Hebrew Bible, appearing only once in the biblical text. This single occurrence makes it a *hapax legomenon*—a term used for words that appear only once in a corpus. Because the word appears so infrequently, determining its precise meaning relies entirely on that one context, which limits our ability to establish its full semantic range or confirm its exact definition with certainty. The lexical data provided indicates that Idbash is a proper name rather than a common noun with a definable meaning. Without access to the specific biblical passage where it occurs, we cannot determine its contextual significance or whether it refers to a person, place, or other entity. The single occurrence in the biblical record suggests it was either a minor figure or location of limited narrative importance, or possibly a term whose significance has been obscured by the passage of time and changes in the Hebrew language. For biblical scholarship and translation work, hapax legomena like Idbash present genuine interpretive challenges. Translators and commentators must rely on contextual clues and sometimes comparative analysis with related languages to understand such words. The rarity of this word means its meaning cannot be verified through comparison with other biblical uses, making it one of the more difficult elements of biblical Hebrew lexicography to handle with confidence.