כֹּזְבָא
Cozeba, a place in Palestine
Definition
Cozeba is a proper noun referring to a town or settlement in ancient Judah. The name itself means 'fallacious' or 'deceptive,' derived from the Hebrew root for lying. It is mentioned only once in the Bible in 1 Chronicles 4:22, listed among the descendants of Judah and the inhabitants of various towns. The context suggests it was a known, though likely minor, settlement within the tribal territory.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the Old Testament, in 1 Chronicles 4:22. It appears in a genealogical list detailing the lineages and dwelling places of the tribe of Judah. The usage is purely geographical, identifying a location associated with certain clans. There are no patterns of usage across different books or contexts.
Etymology
The name כֹּזְבָא (Kôzᵉbâʼ) is derived from the root verb כָּזַב (kāzav, H3576), meaning 'to lie, to be false, to fail.' It is a feminine noun form, essentially meaning 'falsehood' or 'deception.' As a place name, it likely described a location that was somehow disappointing, unreliable (e.g., a water source that failed), or was intended to ward off evil by giving it an unflattering name.
Semantic Range
In ancient Near Eastern culture, place names often carried descriptive or symbolic meanings, sometimes reflecting the character of the location, an event that happened there, or a protective invocation. A name meaning 'falsehood' might indicate a settlement that was known for an unreliable resource, was founded under dubious circumstances, or was named to ironically claim the opposite (i.e., that it was not deceptive). Its inclusion in a tribal genealogy (1 Chronicles 4:22) underscores the importance of land and locality in Israelite identity and heritage.
There are no direct synonyms for this proper place name. Related words from its root include: כָּזָב (kāzāv, H3577) — a masculine noun meaning 'lie' or 'falsehood,' and כָּזַב (kāzav, H3576) — the root verb meaning 'to lie, to deceive.'
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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