H1637 H1637
A threshing floor, the open ground where grain is beaten and winnowed; once a Ketiv variant read as 'throat.'
The threshing floor is one of the Bible's most evocative settings — a flat, exposed area where harvested grain is separated from chaff by treading or beating. It is where Ruth encounters Boaz in a scene charged with covenantal significance (Ruth 3:2-14), where David purchases Araunah's threshing floor to build an altar that would become the Temple site (2 Sam 24:18-24; 2 Chr 3:1), and where Hosea warns that Israel's unfaithful prosperity will blow away like chaff from the floor (Hos 9:1-2). All major languages render it with agricultural specificity: Spanish 'era,' French 'aire de battage,' German 'Tenne,' each preserving the concrete image of open-air grain processing.
Senses
1. threshing floor — An open area, typically on a hilltop or elevated ground, where harvested grain is threshed and winnowed. The consistent cross-linguistic rendering — English 'threshing-floor,' Spanish 'era,' French 'aire,' German 'Tenne,' Arabic بَيْدَر, Korean 타작마당 — confirms a single, stable agricultural referent across all 36 occurrences. Key passages include Jacob's funeral procession pausing at the 'threshing floor of Atad' (Gen 50:10-11), Ruth's nighttime encounter with Boaz (Ruth 3:2-14), and David's purchase of Araunah's floor (2 Sam 24:18-24), which became the site of Solomon's Temple (2 Chr 3:1). Micah 4:12 uses the image metaphorically: nations gathered like sheaves to the threshing floor. 36×
AR["إِلَى-الْبَيْدَرِ","الْ-بَيْدَرِ","الْبَيْدَرَ","الْبَيْدَرِ","بَيْدَرِ","فِي-بَيْدَرِ"]·ben["-খামার","-খামারে","-খামারের","খামার","খামারে","খামারের","সেই-খামারে"]·DE["Dreschen-Tenne","Tenne","[בגרן]","[גרן]","[הגרן]","an-der-Tenne","auf-threshing-Boden-von","der-Dreschen-Tenne","der-threshing-Boden","die-Tenne","threshing-Boden-von"]·EN["at-threshing-floor-of","in-threshing-floor-of","on-threshing-floor-of","the-threshing-floor","threshing-floor","threshing-floor-of"]·FR["aire","aire-de-battage","aire-plancher-de","battage-floor-de","le-aire-de-battage","le-aire-plancher","sur-aire-plancher-de","à-battage-floor-de"]·heb["ב-גורן","ב-גרן","בגרן","גורן","גרן","ה-גורן","ה-גרן"]·HI["खलिहान","खलिहान-का","खलिहान-की","खलिहान-में","में-खलिहान","हगोरेन"]·ID["-tempat-pengirikan","di-tempat-pengirikan","lantai-pengirikan","tempat-pengirikan"]·IT["a-threshing-floor-di","aia","il-aia","il-threshing-floor","il-trebbiatura-pavimento","su-trebbiatura-pavimento-di","threshing-floor","threshing-floor-di","trebbiatura-pavimento-di"]·jav["ing-papan-iru-iru","ing-papan-panggilenan","kang-panggenan-napeni","papan-iru-iru","papan-nutu","papan-panggilenan","papan-panggilèn","papan-pangirik","papan-panyiraman","wonten-ing-papan-panggilèn","wonten-papan-panggilenan"]·KO["그-타작마당","그-타작마당에","그-타작마당을","에-타작마당","에-타작마당-의","에-타작마당의","타작마당","타작마당-의"]·PT["a-eira","eira","eira-de","em-eira-de","na-eira-de"]·RU["·-гумна","гумна","гумно","гумну","на-гумне"]·ES["en-era-de","en-la-era-de","era","era-de","granero","la-era"]·SW["katika-sakafu-ya-kupuria-ya","katika-tambini","katika-uwanja-wa-kupuria","katika-uwanja-wa-kupuria-wa","sakafu-ya-kupuria","sakafu-ya-kupuria-ya","tambini","uwanja-wa-kupuria","uwanja-wa-kupuria-wa","ya-sakafu-ya-kupuria"]·TR["-harmana","harman","harman-yerinde","harman-yerine","harman-yerini","harman-yerinin","harmana","harmanyerinde-","harmanyerinden","harmanyerinin","harmanın","harmanına","harmanında"]·urd["کھلیان","کھلیان-میں","کھلیان-کی","کھلیان-کے","کھلیہان","کھلیہان-پر"]
2. throat (Ketiv variant) — A Ketiv (written-text) variant in Jeremiah 2:25 where the consonantal form is read as garon ('throat') rather than the Qere goren ('threshing floor'). The multilingual evidence confirms this anatomical reading: English brackets '[and-your-throat],' Spanish '[y-tu-garganta],' while French and German leave the Hebrew unresolved. The context — 'withhold your foot from being bare and your throat from thirst' — makes the anatomical sense contextually necessary. This is a text-critical rather than semantic distinction, but the word's consonantal ambiguity is lexicographically noteworthy. 1×
AR["[وَ-حَلْقَكِ]"]·DE["[[וגורנך]]"]·EN["[and-your-throat]"]·FR["[[וגורנך]]"]·heb["[וגורנך]"]·HI["[केतीब]"]·ID["[dan-tenggorokanmu]"]·IT["[[וגורנך]]"]·jav["[K]"]·KO["[그리고-네-목구멍-을]"]·PT["[Q]"]·RU["[и-горло-твоё]"]·ES["[y-tu-garganta]"]·SW["[ketiv]"]·TR["[ketiv]"]
Related Senses
H5921a 1. upon, on, over (spatial) (5443×)H0413 1. directional: to, toward (5366×)H1121a 1. son, male offspring, descendant (4914×)H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)H4428 1. king, human ruler (2518×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H6440 1. before, in front of (spatial) (1870×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H3027 1. physical hand (body part) (1596×)H1697 1. word, speech, utterance (1235×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† גֹּ֫רֶן n.m. threshing-floor (cf. further vulg. Ar. جُرْنٌ stone basin, trough, mortar, etc. Dozy Lane, v. Moḥiṭ243 b, 7)—גֹּרֶן Gn 50:10 + 27 times (cstr. e.g. Gn 50:10, 11 2 S 6:6); גֹּֽרְנָֽה ׃ Mi 4:12; sf. גָּרְנִי Is 21:10; גָּרְנְךָ Dt 15:14; 16:13; pl. הַגְּרָנוֹת 1 S 23:1, הַגֳּרָנוֹת Jo 2:24; cstr. גָּרְנוֹת Ho 9:1—threshing-floor, (on form. v. RobBR i. 550 cf. Fl NHWBi. 437) Gn 50:10,…