מָקוֹם, H4725
Place, location, site — a physical spot, locality, or appointed position; rarely, a measured distance or space.
Maqom is the everyday Hebrew word for 'place' — one of the most frequent nouns in the Hebrew Bible with over 400 occurrences. It spans a wide range from a specific spot where one stands (Exod 3:5, 'the place where you stand is holy ground') to named localities, regions, and appointed positions. Translations across languages consistently use their basic spatial term: English 'place,' Spanish lugar, French lieu, German Ort. A single occurrence at 1 Sam 26:13, where David put distance between himself and Saul, shows an unusual sense of measured space or distance, reflected in English 'the distance' and Spanish el espacio.
Senses
1. place, location, site — A physical place, location, site, or appointed position (400x). This overwhelmingly dominant sense covers everything from the sacred ground at the burning bush (Exod 3:5) to the place Abraham stood before the LORD (Gen 18:24) to regions and named localities. All major translations converge on a single core spatial term — English 'the place,' Spanish el lugar, French le lieu, German Ort — confirming a remarkably stable semantic core across contexts of worship, travel, habitation, and law. 400×
AR["المَكانِ","الْ-مَكَانِ","الْمَكَانَ","الْمَكَانُ","الْمَكَانِ","لِ-الْمَكَانِ"]·ben["-সেই-স্থানের","-স্থান","-স্থানকে","-স্থানের","স্থান"]·DE["Ort","dem-Ort","den-Ort","der-Ort","des-Ortes","zum-Ort"]·EN["the-place"]·FR["le-lieu"]·heb["ה-מקום","ל-ה-מקום"]·HI["उस-स्थान","उस-स्थान-का","उस-स्थान-को","स्थन","स्थन-को","स्थान","स्थान-का","स्थान-के"]·ID["tempat","tempat-","tempat-itu"]·IT["il-luogo"]·jav["panggenan","panggenan-punika"]·KO["그-장소","그-장소가","그-장소를","그-장소의","장소","장소를"]·PT["ao-lugar","o-lugar"]·RU["-места","места","место","месту"]·ES["al-lugar","el-lugar"]·SW["ambaye","hili","lile","mahali","mahali-hapo","mahali-hili","mahali-lile","tutakapo-jia"]·TR["-yer","-yerden","-yere","-yeri","-yerin","yere"]·urd["-جگہ","-جگہ-کا","جگہ","جگہ-اُس","جگہ-کو","مقام","مقام-اُس","مقام-اُس-کے"]
2. sense 2 — A measured distance or intervening space (1x at 1 Sam 26:13). David crossed over and stood on a mountaintop 'at a distance,' putting space between himself and Saul's camp. The translation signatures shift here: English 'the distance,' Spanish el espacio, French le distance — all signaling spatial extent rather than a fixed location. This rare sense captures maqom as the gap or interval between two points rather than a point itself. 1×
AR["المَكانُ"]·ben["স্থান"]·DE["der-distance"]·EN["the-distance"]·FR["le-distance"]·heb["ה-מקום"]·HI["जगह"]·ID["tempat"]·IT["il-distanza"]·jav["panggenan"]·KO["그-거리가"]·PT["o-lugar"]·RU["расстояние"]·ES["el-espacio"]·SW["nafasi"]·TR["-mesafe"]·urd["جگہ"]
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
מָקוֹם, מָקֹם (Ex 29:31, etc.)399 n.m. Gn 19:13 (but v. infr.), standing-place, place;—abs. מ׳ Ex 21:13 +; cstr. מְקוֹם Gn 12:6 + (often before אֲשֶׁר 39:20 +); sf. מְקוֹמוֹ 1 S 3:2 +, מְקֹמוֹ Gn 18:33 +, etc.; pl. usually מְקֹמוֹת Ju 19:13 +, מְקוֹמוֹת 1 S 7:16; Je 29:14; -מֹת 2 S 17:9 + 2 times; sf. מְקוֹמֹתֵיכֶם Am 4:6, etc. [appar. f. (not Gn 18:24, where עִיר is in mind, not) Jb 20:9…