H4001 — מְבוּסָה (mᵉbûwçâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4001
Original: מְבוּסָה
Transliteration: mᵉbûwçâh
Pronunciation: meb-oo-saw
Part of Speech: Feminine noun (n-f)
Root: בּוּס (bûwç, H947) — "to trample (literally or figuratively)"
Occurrences: 3 in OT (token count: 3)
Books: 1 (Isaiah only)
First Occurrence: Isa 18:2 — "...a nation meted out and trodden down (mᵉbûwçâh), whose land the rivers have spoiled!"
Hapax Legomenon: No — but extremely rare; entirely confined to Isaiah

Lexicon Definition¶

From H947 (bûwç, "to trample"); a trampling, i.e. a thing trodden under foot — rendered "treading (trodden) down (under foot)." Formed on the m-preformative pattern (miqtal), which typically yields a nominal abstract or result-noun from a verbal root. מְבוּסָה denotes either the act of being trampled or the state/condition of being something that is trampled upon (a subjugated, downtrodden thing).

Morphology¶

Pattern: m-preformative feminine abstract noun (miqtālāh type) formed from the middle-weak root בוס
Form in all three occurrences: Absolute singular (mᵉbûwçâh), preceded by conjunctive waw ("and [a] trampling")
The ETCBC parser consistently glosses the lemma as "subjugation" — capturing the abstract/result sense rather than the concrete action

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
trodden down	1	33.3%
trodden under foot	1	33.3%
(of) treading down	1	33.3%

All three KJV renderings convey the same underlying image: the passive/resultative state of being trampled. Every occurrence is translated with English "trodden/treading."

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Isaiah	3	0.2

Pattern: The word is an exclusively Isaianic lexeme. Two of the three occurrences (Isa 18:2, 18:7) belong to the oracle concerning Cush/the tall-smooth nation; the third (Isa 22:5) belongs to the "Valley of Vision" oracle against Jerusalem. Isaiah therefore uses the same noun both of a foreign nation doing the trampling (or being trampled) and of Yahweh's day of judgment upon his own people.

Semantic Categories¶

Given only three occurrences, the range clusters into two overlapping uses:

1. Epithet of a Nation — a "Trodden-Down People"¶

Applied to the nation described in the Cush oracle, characterizing it as a people marked by trampling — either aggressively trampling others or suffering trampling themselves (commentators divide on the direction). Paired in both verses with the phrase קַו־קָו ("meted out / measuring line"). - Isa 18:2 — "...a nation meted out and trodden down (mᵉbûwçâh), whose land the rivers have spoiled." - Isa 18:7 — "...a nation meted out and trodden under foot (mᵉbûwçâh), whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion."

2. A Day of Judgment — Trampling as Divine Visitation¶

Listed in a triad of disaster-nouns alongside מְהוּמָה (mᵉhûwmâh, "discomfiture/tumult," H4103) and מְבוּכָה (mᵉbûwkâh, "perplexity/confusion," H3998), describing the character of the "day" that Adonai YHWH of hosts brings. - Isa 22:5 — "For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down (mᵉbûwçâh), and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision..."

Both categories share the semantic core of subjugation under the foot — either as a standing description of a nation or as an eschatological/judicial event.

Common Collocations¶

Because the dataset is only three verses, every co-occurring content word appears exactly once (33%). The theologically weighted clusters are:

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה / אֲדֹנָי יְהֹוִה	H3068 / H136+H3069	3x (all)	Action is always framed under the authority of YHWH of hosts
יוֹם (yôwm) "day"	H3117	1x	"day of…trampling" — eschatological-judgment idiom (Isa 22:5)
מְהוּמָה (mᵉhûwmâh)	H4103	1x	Paired noun of tumult/disaster in the triad (Isa 22:5)
מְבוּכָה (mᵉbûwkâh)	H3998	1x	Paired noun of perplexity in the triad; assonance with mᵉbûwçâh
צִיּוֹן (Tsîyôwn)	H6726	1x	Geographic pole of Isa 18:7 — tribute brought "to mount Zion"
גַּיְא (gayʼ) "valley"	H1516	1x	"Valley of Vision" as locus of judgment (Isa 22:5)
מַלְאָךְ (mălʼâk)	H4397	1x	"Messengers" sent to/from the trodden nation (Isa 18:2)
נָהָר (nâhâr) / מַיִם (mayim)	H5104 / H4325	1x each	The trodden nation's land spoiled by rivers/waters

Typical Pattern: mᵉbûwçâh is twice coupled with the fixed phrase gôy qaw-qāw ("nation of line upon line") and once embedded in a three-word sound-play with מְהוּמָה and מְבוּכָה. All three occurrences stand inside an oracle attributed to YHWH of hosts.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H947 בּוּס (bûwç) — the parent verb, "to trample, tread down, tread under foot"; also "be polluted" (Ezek 16:6, 22). Occurs 12x across Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah.
H948 בּוּץ (bûwts) — homograph "byssus/fine linen" (unrelated in meaning despite graphic similarity)

Synonyms¶

No synonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H4001.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H4001.

Easily Confused Words (near-synonyms for "trample/trodden")¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רָמַס (ramas)	H7429	"trample, tread"	A verb of active trampling by feet/hooves; broader usage (19x)
מִרְמָס (mirmâs)	H4823	"treading (down), trodden under foot"	Parallel m-preformative noun from רמס; also means "a place for trampling" (7x, mostly Isaiah/Ezekiel); the closest conceptual twin to mᵉbûwçâh
דּוּשׁ / דִּישׁ (dush / dîsh)	H1758 / H1786	"tread, thresh"	Refers to threshing grain; agricultural, not military/judicial
דָּרַךְ (darak)	H1869	"tread"	Treading a bow, a winepress, a path — activity of stepping, not necessarily destructive

Thematic Companions (judgment-day triad, Isa 22:5)¶

H4103 מְהוּמָה (mᵉhûwmâh) — "tumult, discomfiture, vexation"
H3998 מְבוּכָה (mᵉbûwkâh) — "perplexity, confusion"

The three nouns are selected partly for assonance (mehûmâh / mebûsâh / mebûkâh) — a hallmark of Isaianic paronomasia.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001024	Impact	Matches the noun's core sense of trampling, crushing force, and subjugation underfoot.

LXX Mapping¶

The Greek LXX does not render mᵉbûwçâh with a single consistent content-word equivalent; the three occurrences are handled paraphrastically, and the only recurring Greek terms in the matched verses are function words (ἐν, καί, ὁ). No lexical bridge of co-occurrence ≥ 5 exists, so there is no stable LXX counterpart.

Greek Equivalent	Frequency	Notes
ἐν (en), καί (kaí), ὁ (ho)	3x each	Function words only — no content-word equivalent
—	—	No dedicated Greek lexeme carries mᵉbûwçâh across the three verses

For the verb root בּוּס (H947), the LXX most commonly employs καταπατέω ("trample underfoot") and συμπατέω, but that bridge belongs to the root verb rather than to this nominal derivative.