H3741 H3741
Wells or cisterns; excavated water sources dug by shepherds
This rare plural construct appears only in Zephaniah 2:6, in a textually difficult phrase about 'pastures with wells of shepherds.' The word likely refers to dug cisterns or wells, though the text is corrupt and some scholars view it as a gloss or variant reading. The LXX reads 'Crete,' suggesting possible confusion with the Cherethites. Despite uncertainty, the core meaning relates to water sources for pastoral life.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Wells or cisterns dug for watering flocks in pastoral regions. The Zephaniah passage envisions the Philistine coast transformed into shepherds' pastureland with water sources. The textual difficulty is evident in the widely divergent translations: Spanish 'cisternas,' French's reference to 'cut off,' and German's 'schnitt ab' (cut off) all reflect different interpretations. The pastoral context supports understanding these as functional water sources for flocks in the transformed landscape. 1×
AR["حُفَرِ"]·ben["কূপগুলির"]·DE["schnitt-ab"]·EN["with-wells-of"]·FR["il-a-retranché"]·heb["כרות"]·HI["कुंड"]·ID["gua-gua"]·IT["[כרת]"]·jav["kubangan"]·KO["우리들"]·PT["poços-de"]·RU["выкопанными-для-воды"]·ES["cisternas-de"]·SW["mashimo-ya"]·TR["kuyuları-"]·urd["کنویں"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)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×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [כָּרָה] n.f. cistern (or well), only pl. cstr. in נְוֹת כְּרֹת רֹעִים Zp 2:6 pastures of (= with) wells of shepherds, but text dub.; כ׳ a gloss according to Kö ii. 176, (§ 94 a) Anm.; 𝔊 κρήτη; We (והיתה כרת נות רעים, as 𝔊) kereth = Philistia; v. further כְּרֵתִי; Böhme ZAW vii. 1887, 212 views כְּרֹת, plausibly, as erron. variant of preceding נְוֹת, so Schwally ib. x. 1890, 185, 186; Rothstein in KauAT.