H4057 — מִדְבָּר (midbar)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4057
Original: מִדְבָּר
Transliteration: midbar / midbâr
Pronunciation: mid-bawr
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: From a driving/pasturing sense; open country where flocks are driven
Occurrences: 279 tokens in 257 verses across 27 books
First Occurrence: Gen 14:6 — "Elparan, which [is] by the wilderness"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From the sense of driving; a pasture or open field where cattle are driven; by implication, desert; also speech, including its organs. KJV: desert, south, speech, wilderness.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
in the wilderness	121	47.1%
the wilderness	27	10.5%
of the wilderness	25	9.7%
into the wilderness	15	5.8%
wilderness	12	4.7%
through/to/from/out of the wilderness	28	10.9%
desert / in the desert / of the desert	9	3.5%
rare idiomatic renderings	20	7.8%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Numbers	44	3.4
Exodus	25	2.1
Jeremiah	21	1.5
Deuteronomy	19	2.0
Isaiah	19	1.5
Psalms	18	0.7
Joshua	15	2.3
Ezekiel	14	1.1
1 Samuel	14	1.7
Judges	9	1.5
2 Chronicles	7	0.9
Genesis	7	0.5
2 Samuel	6	0.9
Joel	5	6.8
Hosea	5	2.5
Leviticus	4	0.5

Density is highest in Joel, Numbers, Hosea, Joshua, and Exodus. The distribution is concentrated in wilderness-route narratives and prophetic desolation imagery.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Open Country / Desert Region¶

Gen 14:6 — "Elparan, which [is] by the wilderness."
Exod 3:1 — Moses led the flock to "the backside of the desert."
Job 38:26 — rain falls "on the wilderness, wherein [there is] no man."

2. Exodus Route and Camp Setting¶

Num 1:1 — "the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai."
Deut 1:19 — Israel went through "that great and terrible wilderness."
Jer 2:6 — the wilderness is "a land of deserts and of pits."

3. Direction or Boundary Marker¶

Josh 1:4 — "From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river."
2 Kgs 3:8 — "The way through the wilderness of Edom."
1 Chr 5:9 — territory extended "unto the entering in of the wilderness."

4. Solitude, Refuge, or Withdrawal¶

1 Kgs 19:4 — Elijah went "a day's journey into the wilderness."
Ps 55:7 — "I [would] wander far off, [and] remain in the wilderness."
Hos 2:14 — "bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."

5. Desolation / Uninhabited Condition¶

Isa 14:17 — "made the world as a wilderness."
Ezek 19:13 — "planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground."
Joel 1:19 — "the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness."

6. Rare Speech / Mouth Sense¶

Song 4:3 — "thy speech [is] comely." This is the lone non-landscape rendering in the KJV distribution.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-vv	Typical Pattern
YHWH	H3068	59	divine speech/action in wilderness settings
erets (land)	H776	56	"land" plus wilderness/desert description
bo (come/go/enter)	H935	42	movement into or through wilderness
Yisrael	H3478	42	Israel's wilderness setting
ben (son/children)	H1121	38	"children of Israel" in wilderness narratives
yalak (walk/go)	H3212	31	travel through wilderness
derek (way/road)	H1870	30	route or road through wilderness
Mitsrayim (Egypt)	H4714	27	Exodus-from-Egypt wilderness contexts
am (people)	H5971	27	corporate people in wilderness
yashab (dwell)	H3427	26	inhabited/uninhabited contrast

Synonyms / Near Neighbors¶

**H6155 עֲרָבָה (arabah)** — steppe/desert plain; returned bysearch_relationships.py`.
H6723 צִיָּה (tsiyah) — dry, parched land; returned by search_relationships.py.
H3452 יְשִׁימוֹן (yeshimon) — desolation/waste; shares KJV "wilderness/desert" overlap.
H2723 חָרְבָּה (chorbah) — waste place / ruin; shares the G2048 LXX rendering.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
`arabah	H6160 / H6155	wilderness, desert	steppe/plain; more specific terrain term
tsiyah	H6723	wilderness/desert	emphasizes dryness/parching
yeshimon	H3452	wilderness/desert	emphasizes desolation/waste
eremos	G2048	wilderness	Greek LXX/NT counterpart, not Hebrew source word

Semantic Domains¶

search_relationships.py returns: - [001002003] Landscapes — landscape/topography field with other landform terms. - [001002007] People — likely from the rare "speech" and inhabited-place overlaps; not the dominant field.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	Score	Notes
ἔρημος (eremos)	G2048	231	33.03	dominant LXX rendering for wilderness/desert
ἄνυδρος (anydros)	G504	13	15.32	waterless/dry sense
Σινᾶ (Sina)	G4614	14	14.02	Sinai wilderness contexts
ἐρυθρός (erythros)	G2063	10	12.55	Red Sea route contexts