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shebanq

מַלְבֵּן – brick-mould

Semantic Fields: Tools   
Author(s): Bas ter Haar Romeny, Raymond de Hoop *
First published: 2026-03-31
Citation: Bas ter Haar Romeny, Raymond de Hoop, מַלְבֵּן – brick-mould,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026 WORK IN PROGRESS

Introduction

Grammatical type: n.m.
Occurrences: 3x HB (0/3/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 3).

  • Nebiim: 2 Sam 12:31 (Q); Jer 43:9; Nah 3:14.
  • Text doubtful: 2 Sam 12:31 (see A.1).

A.1 2 Sam 12:31 tells how David dealt with the people of Rabbah: he set them to work with saws, iron picks and axes. According to the consonantal text of MT, ‘he led them …’ (וְהֶעֱבִ֤יר אוֹתָם֙ במלכן). According to the Qere, ‘he led them to the brick-mould’ (וְהֶעֱבִיר אוֹתָם בַּמַּלְבֵּן); see further below (→ 6.1).

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 מַלְבֵּן is a derivative from the BHebr. noun לְבֵנָה, ‘brick, flagstone’, derived from √lbn.1

A.2 Akkadian: Cognates of מַלְבֵּן are, in the first place, Akkadian nalbanu and nalbattu, both meaning ‘brick-mould’.2 With regard to the latter form, CAD remarks that the object also served ceremonial and ritual purposes, and that in some instances the word refers to a geometric figure, possibly trapezoid.

A.3 Aramaic: The earliest attestation of the word in Aramaic is found in Palmyrene, in the sense of ‘door, doorframe’.3 In Jewish Babylonian Aramaic a phrase in bB.Meṣ. 116b deals with the division of properties after a two-storey house colapses, if the upper and lower storeys belong to different people. Abayye thinks the Mishna (B.Meṣ. 10:1) means that only the complete bricks should be counted, not the broken ones. Therefore, he concludes, one profits by ‘a wide brick-mould’.4
The Syriac ܡܠܒܢܐ (malbānā) is used in the sense of ‘brick kiln’, but also as ‘base or frame (of a gate)’.15 The translations ‘lateraria officina’16 and ‘fornax lateraria’17 go back to incorrect interpretations of the Hebrew word.

A.4 Post-Biblical Hebrew: the word can also refer to a brick-mould, for example in bSoṭ. 11a: ‘they brought a brick-mould and hung it on Pharaoh’s neck’, cf. ExodR. 1:10.5 In these forms of Hebrew, however, the word is used more often for all sorts of frames, which is understandable from the fact that the brick-mould itself looked like a small frame. Thus it is a frame of a window in mB.Bat. 3:6, bB.Bat. 69a, mNeg. 13:3,6 also as the setting of ספקלריא (specularia, ‘window panes’) in tErub. 8:14,7 and a frame of a door in bB.Bat. 69a.8 The frame mentioned in yShab. 12:1, 13c should also be mentioned here,9 if it is not a frame used in building, to be filled with stones and plaster, as in bZeb. 54a.10 In various instances, the word is used for a frame of a bed or sofa,11 and of a chair.12 A special use can be found in mKel. 21:3 and tKel.B.Bat. 1:8,13 where a מלבן is a frame for the blade of a large saw (מסר).

Another development is the transferred use, already attested in Jer 43:9, for other objects, in order to indicate their rectangular shape. In such instances it can often simply be translated as ‘rectangle’. Thus in mTer. 4:8 we find figs pressed in rectangular forms, and mPeʿa 3:4 mentions a rectangular plot of onions, cf. mPeʿa 7:1, 2.14 The possible occurrence in TgPsJ Num 33:20 remains uncertain.

A.5 Arabic: the word milban is also attested in the sense of ‘mould, pattern, for making clay tiles’.18

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 מַלְבֵּן is a maqtil form. Many maqtil forms denote a utensil.19 מַלְבֵּן is a denominative of לְבֵנָה, ‘brick’, ‘flagstone’.

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 מַלְבֵּן is used in a prep. construction with בְּ:

  • בַּמַּלְבֵּן, ‘to/ in the brick-mould/ frame/ pavement’, 2 Sam 12:31; Jer 43:9.

A.2 Verbs: מַלְבֵּן occurs as the direct object of:

  • חזק hiph., ‘to seize, grasp’, Nah 3:14 (הַחֲזִיקִי).

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • πλινθεῖον, ‘brickworks’:20 2 Sam 12:31LXX;
  • πλίνθος, ‘brick’:21 Nah 3:14LXX;
  • πλινθίον, ‘oblong case or frame used in moulding bricks and in measuring’, but also ‘rectangle’:22 Jer 43:9αʹθʹ; Nah 3:14αʹσʹθʹ;
  • No rendering: Jer 50:9LXX (43:9MT): ἐν προθύροις renders בפתח.23

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • ܡܘܠܟܢܐ (mulkānā), ‘promise’, ‘counsel’:24 Nah 3:14. This translation must have been based on a reading מלכן, if it does not go back to inner-Syriac corruption.
  • ܡܠܒܢܐ (malbānā), ‘mould for brick-making’, ‘brick kiln’:25 Jer 43:9;
  • ܡܫܘܚܬܐ (mšūḥtā), ‘measure’:26 2 Sam 12:31.

c. Targumim (Tg: J):

  • בנינא, ‘building’:27 Jer 43:9J, Nah 3:14J;
  • שוקיא (pl. of שוקא), ‘street, market’:28 2 Sam 12:31J.

d. Vulgate (Vg):

  • later, ‘brick’:29 Nah 3:14;
  • murus latericius, ‘wall made or consisting of bricks’:30 Jer 43:9;
  • typus laterum, ‘figure/image of bricks’, ‘brick-mould’:31 2 Sam 12:31.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 מַלְבֵּן belongs to two different semantic categories, namely ‘tools’ in the domain of ‘construction’ (2 Sam 12:31; Nah 3:14); and ‘constructions’ in the domain of ‘infrastructure’ (Jer 43:9).

A.2 מַלְבֵּן is used in the context of tools, such as saws (מְּגֵרָה), iron picks (חֲרִצֵי הַבַּרְזֶל), and iron axes (מַגְזְרֹת הַבַּרְזֶל) in 2 Sam 12:31. It occurs also in the list of material used for making stones and eventually to build walls, namely mud/clay (טִיט) and clay/mortar (חֹמֶר) in Nah 3:14.

A.3 מַלְבֵּן is used for an item which is in the entrance (בְּפֶתַח) to the Pharao’s palace, in/ under which large stones (אֲבָנִים גְּדֹלוֹת) could be buried in the clay/ mortar (מֶלֶט).

6. Exegesis

6.1 Literal Use

Some early modern translations32 and Gesenius,33 interpret the word in all instances as ‘brick-kiln’, but there is no justification for such a rendering.34 In Nah 3:14, part of the third word against Nineveh, the prophet ironically urges the city to strengthen its fortifications, and elaborates on this as follows: ‘go into clay and tread the mortar, take hold of the brick-mould (הַחֲזִיקִי מַלְבֵּן)’. 2 Sam 12:31 tells how David dealt with the people of Rabbah: he set them to work with saws, iron picks and axes, and ‘led them to the brick-mould’ (וְהֶעֱבִיר אוֹתָם בַּמַּלְבֵּן, following Q; K: במלכן). Koehler & Baumgartner propose to translate ‘Ziegelei’, ‘brick-making’, for the latter instance,35 and Zorell hesitatingly suggests ‘officina ubi lateres fuint’.36 Since, however, the tasks of the vanquished are enumerated here by reference to the tools they have to use, the rendering ‘brick-mould’ is perfectly in order.37 It is only in Jer 43:9 that the word has a different meaning, ‘quadrangle, rectangular terrace of tiles’,38 or perhaps ‘foundation’.39 This meaning is probably derived from the first, on the basis of the rectangular shape.

It is not clear from the biblical text how the brick-mould referred to would look like, or from what material it was made. The context of the occurrence in Nahum could suggest, however, that brick-moulds were filled with clay. On the basis of more modern examples from Egypt and Palestine, it can be assumed that the brick-mould of biblical times was a rectangular wooden box without bottom or cover. This box was pressed into a mixture of clay or mud, straw, and water; or rather filled with this mixture, standing on a bed of straw or dry sand. The brickmaker then levelled off the mixture, removed the box, and allowed the brick or tile to dry in the sun.40

6.2 Pictorial Material

Brick-moulds seem to be represented on a picture from the tomb of Rekhmara (xviiith dynasty) at Thebes.41

7. Conclusions

The Hebrew word מַלְבֵּן refers in the first place to a brick-mould, a rectangular wooden box used to mould clay into the form of a brick or tile. In transferred senses, it came to be used for various objects that share the shape of a frame or the rectangular form with the brick-mould. Thus in biblical Hebrew, its use for a quadrangle or square is attested in addition to the original meaning, whereas in post-biblical Hebrew the word is often used in order to refer to window, door, and bed frames, and to objects in rectangular shape or the rectangular form in general.

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

Driver 1937-38
Godfrey R. Driver, ‘Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah’, JQR 28:97-129.
Driver 1913
Samuel R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel (2nd. ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Flinders Petrie 1938
William M. Flinders Petrie, Egyptian Architecture, London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt.
Hoffmann 1882
Georg Hoffmann, ‘Lexikalisches’, ZAW 2:53-72.
Mallon 1921
Alexis Mallon, Les Hébreux en Egypte (Orientalia, 3) Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico.
Meyer 1969
Rudolf Meyer, Hebräische Grammatik, II: Formenlehre, Flexionstabellen, 3. Auflage, Berlin: de Gruyter.

Notes

This article is based on an unpublished paper by Bas ter Haar Romeny, originally written for the KLY-project. For the publication in Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database the paper was thoroughly reworked and expanded by Raymond de Hoop.

  1. Ges18, 594. ↩

  2. CAD N/1, 199-201; cf. AHw, 724. ↩

  3. DNWSI, 630. ↩

  4. Thus Hoffmann 1882:53-54; but WTM, vol. 3, 123: ‘Ausschnitt aus den Ziegeln einer Wand’; Jastrow, DTT, 787: ‘a quadrangular piece’ of masonry. ↩

  5. Sokoloff, SLB, 764. ↩

  6. Payne Smith, TS, 1887. ↩

  7. LSyr, 357. ↩

  8. Ed. Shinan, 50. ↩

  9. Cf. Dalman, AuS, vol. 7, 70. ↩

  10. Ed. Lieberman, Mo’ed, 136. ↩

  11. Dalman, AuS, vol. 7, 70. ↩

  12. Cf. Hoffmann 1882:56. ↩

  13. Thus WTM, vol. 3, 122; Jastrow, DTT, 786. ↩

  14. Cf. Dalman, AuS, vol. 7, 187, 190. ↩

  15. Cf. Dalman, AuS, vol. 7, 193. ↩

  16. Ed. Rengstorf [Windfuhr], Toharot, 70. ↩

  17. For all meanings, see also Hoffmann 1882:53-66. ↩

  18. WKAS, vol. 2.1, 179. ↩

  19. BL, 492 qζ, rζ; Meyer 1969:34-35. ↩

  20. GELS, 566; LSJ, 1421 (also ‘oblong case’ and ‘frame’). ↩

  21. GELS, 566; LSJ, 1422. ↩

  22. LSJ, 1421: = πλαίσιον, p. 1411; GELS, 566: ‘πλινθίον = πλινθεῖον. ↩

  23. Cf. Hoffmann 1882:67; Driver 1913:296, with n. 1. ↩

  24. Payne Smith, CSD, 257; Sokoloff, SLB, 725. Payne Smith, TS, 2141: ‘promissio, promissum, consilium, possessio’. ↩

  25. Payne Smith, CSD, 275; Sokoloff, SLB, 764. ↩

  26. Payne Smith, CSD, 260; Sokoloff, SLB, 842; regarding 2 Sam 12:31, Payne Smith, TS, 2237–38 has ‘fortassis fuerit instrumentum mensorium, quo captivi ad varia suppliciorum genera distributi sint’. ↩

  27. CWT, vol. 1, 101: ‘Gebäude, Bauwerk’. ↩

  28. CWT, vol. 2, 463: ‘Strasse, offener Platz’. ↩

  29. Lewis & Short, LD, 1039; OLD, 1005. ↩

  30. Lewis & Short, LD, 1039; similarly OLD, 1006. ↩

  31. Cf. Lewis & Short, LD, 1922. ↩

  32. E.g. StV, KJV. ↩

  33. Gesenius, TPC, 741: ‘fornax lateraria’. ↩

  34. Cf. Hoffmann 1882:66; Driver 1913:294-97. ↩

  35. KBL, 527. ↩

  36. Zorell, 439. ↩

  37. GB, 426 (‘Ziegelform’); HAWAT, 225 (‘Ziegelform’); BDB, 527; KBL, 527 (‘Ziegelform … Na 3, 14’) Zorell, 439: (‘typus laterum formandorum [Ziegelform], receptaculum luti, ex quo lateres fiunt; [2 Sam 12:31] idem, aut officina ubi lateres fuint’); HAL, 555-56 (‘viereckige Ziegelform’); DCH v:290-91. ↩

  38. GB, 426 (‘viereckiger Platz, Ziegelsteinpflaster, Ziegelterrasse’); HAWAT, 225 (‘Ziegelpflaster’); BDB, 527; KBL, 527 (‘Ziegelterrasse, Mastaba’); Zorell, 439 (‘opus latericium, ut pavimentum? area, aula quadrata?’); HAL, 555-56 (‘Ziegelterrasse, Lehmboden [?]’); DCH v:290-91. ↩

  39. Cf. Driver 1937-38:122. ↩

  40. Hoffmann 1882:53; Mallon 1921:136-37; Flinders Petrie 1938:3-4; Dalman, AuS, Bd. 7, 18. ↩

  41. Cf. Mallon 1921:137, fig. 36; Flinders Petrie 1938: pl. 1, fig. 3 (with description on p. 4). ↩

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