H4656 — מִפְלֶצֶת (miphletseth)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4656
Original: מִפְלֶצֶת
Transliteration: miphletseth
Pronunciation: mif-leh
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: No parent/root Strong's number is supplied in the lexicon data; the lexicon glosses the noun as "a terror, i.e. an idol"
Occurrences: 2 unique verses (4 tokens) across 2 books
First Occurrence: 1 Kings 15:13 — "And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it] by the brook Kidron."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

-tseth; from ; a terror, i.e. an idol:—idol.

The lexicon data is terse, but its two usable components are clear: the noun is pejorative ("a terror") and its attested biblical sense is a concrete cult image ("idol").

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	% of verses
an idol	2	100.0%
her idol	2	100.0%

Each verse contains two tokens of H4656, so the verse-based percentages overlap rather than summing to 100.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
1 Kings	1	0.1
2 Chronicles	1	0.1

Pattern: The entire corpus is limited to two parallel royal-reform narratives about Asa and Maachah. H4656 is not a broad, reusable idol term across the OT corpus; it appears only in this tightly bounded narrative setting.

Semantic Categories¶

Because H4656 occurs in only two parallel verses, its recoverable semantic range is very narrow. The categories below describe the two stable usage patterns visible in the corpus rather than a wide semantic spectrum.

1. A pejorative term for a cult image associated with illicit worship¶

1 Kings 15:13 — "because she had made an idol in a grove"
2 Chronicles 15:16 — "because she had made an idol in a grove"

In both occurrences the word denotes a specific objectionable cult object linked with Maachah's grove/Asherah setting. The KJV consistently renders it "idol."

2. An object targeted for removal, destruction, and public disgrace¶

1 Kings 15:13 — "Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it] by the brook Kidron"
2 Chronicles 15:16 — "Asa cut down her idol, and stamped [it], and burnt [it] at the brook Kidron"

The noun appears not only as the object made, but as the object purged. In both verses H4656 is embedded in a reform context where the image is removed from royal legitimacy and physically destroyed.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
דָּקַק (daqaq)	H1854	1x	Destructive treatment of the image in Asa's purge
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	1x	Royal setting: Asa the king / Maachah in the queen-mother context

The collocation profile is necessarily thin because the corpus is only two verses long.

Word Family / Cognates¶

No explicit cognate or parent Strong's number is supplied for H4656 in the lexicon data.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
εἴδωλον (eidolon)	G1497	idol	Broad Greek term for an idol/image for worship; overlaps in English rendering but belongs to Greek usage and a wider NT/LXX lexical field
אָוֶן (aven)	H205	idol	Much broader Hebrew term covering vanity, trouble, wickedness, and specifically "idol" only in a narrower subset of its uses; H4656 is the narrower concrete cult-object term

Semantic Domains¶

`search_relationships.py` Domain Output¶

[001002008001010] Images — related terms: אֱלִיל (H434), אֱלִיל (H457), אֲשֵׁרָה (H842), גִּלּוּל (H1544), טְחֹרִים (H2914), מַסֵּכָה (H4541)
[001002008001006] Cult Objects — related terms: אֱלִיל (H434), אֱלִיל (H457), אֲשֵׁרָה (H842), גִּלּוּל (H1544), חַמָּן (H2553), מַדְבַּח (A4056)

These domains place H4656 within the OT vocabulary of cult images and associated worship objects. The tool did not return a discrete synonym or antonym list for this entry.

LXX Mapping¶

search_strongs.py --lxx-map H4656 returned: No LXX alignments found for H4656.

Given the word's rarity and its confinement to two parallel reform narratives, the absence of a stable LXX alignment is not surprising.

First Occurrence¶

1 Kings 15:13 — "And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it] by the brook Kidron."

The first occurrence already supplies the full semantic picture of the word's biblical use: a royal-household cult object condemned and destroyed in reform.