מִקְשָׁה (miq.shah)
miq.shah
cucumber field
H:N-FQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-F
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun miqshah refers specifically to a plot of land cultivated for growing cucumbers. It is not a general term for garden or farm, but denotes a specialized field where this particular crop thrives. The word appears only twice in the Hebrew Bible, making it a rare lexical item.
Both occurrences are found in prophetic literature, specifically in Jeremiah and Isaiah. In these contexts, the cucumber field serves as a concrete image within larger discussions of agricultural abundance or divine judgment. The presence of such a specific crop highlights the detailed nature of Israel’s agrarian life and the prophets’ use of everyday rural imagery to communicate spiritual truths.
Though brief, this word grounds biblical theology in the physical reality of ancient farming. It reminds readers that the land promised to Israel was not abstract but consisted of tangible plots where people worked the soil to produce food. The specificity of miqshah underscores how Scripture often uses ordinary agricultural details to illustrate profound theological points.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
A cucumber field after the harvest is an exposed place. When the last fruit is picked, the little watchman’s hut stands alone among the bare vines. Isaiah used this exact picture: the daughter of Zion, stripped of her people and protection, is left “like a hut in a field of melons.” That field, called a miqshah, is a real piece of ground—not a metaphor dreamed up in a palace, but a sight everyone in ancient Judah knew. God’s word meets us in the ordinary places we work and worry over.
That same word hides a surprising twist. In Jeremiah, the same Hebrew spelling describes a carved idol, a palm tree shaped by a craftsman’s hand. It cannot speak or move. Beside a real cucumber field, which trusts the rain and soil in season, the lifeless idol is powerless. So miqshah reminds you that your field—your job, your garden, your kitchen table—is more real than the noise of false gods. God sees the vulnerable hut in your own life and promises to dwell with you there.
Your patch of land, however small, matters. The cucumber field isn’t grand. It grows something simple. Yet it becomes a place where the prophet can hear the voice of the Holy One. May you find in your own ordinary work a quiet trust that outlasts both harvest and drought.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- in/ a cucumber field1×
- a cucumber field1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- מִקְשָׁ֥ה1×
- בְ/מִקְשָׁ֖ה1×
Key Verses
-
Isaiah 1:8
The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.
The hut in a miqshah pictures Zion’s vulnerability after judgment, a real agricultural image of isolation.
-
Jeremiah 10:5
They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
The word appears as a homonym meaning carved work, contrasting the living field with a lifeless idol.