מָבוֹא
ma.vo (H3996)
entrance
AI Word Study
# Maboa (מָבוֹא): The Hebrew Word for Entrance The Hebrew word *maboa* literally denotes an entrance or place of entry, functioning as a concrete spatial term in biblical Hebrew. With 22 occurrences throughout the Bible, it appears frequently enough to demonstrate consistent usage patterns, though not so frequently as to be a dominant vocabulary item. The word's straightforward definition suggests it refers to physical openings or passageways—doorways, gates, or other means by which one enters a structure or space. The term's presence across 22 biblical passages indicates its practical importance in describing the architecture and geography of the ancient Near Eastern world. Its usage would have been readily understood by Hebrew speakers as referring to literal entrance points, whether of buildings, cities, or territories. The consistency of this meaning across occurrences suggests the word maintained a stable, unambiguous definition rather than evolving through multiple semantic layers or metaphorical applications. As a concrete vocabulary item for a fundamental human experience—entering spaces—*maboa* represents the kind of everyday language that grounds biblical texts in the material reality of ancient life. Its relative frequency suggests it was common enough to be part of standard descriptive vocabulary without being among the most frequently deployed terms in biblical Hebrew. This places it in the category of practical, functional language essential for narrative description and spatial orientation in biblical accounts.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
He showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man and all his family go.
So they made way for her; and she went by the way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house, and she was slain there.
He removed the covered way for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry outside to Yahweh’s house, because of the king of Assyria.
They went to the entrance of Gedor, even to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.
Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father’s house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent. Their fathers had been over Yahweh’s camp, keepers of the entry.
Then she looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king. All the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. The singers also played musical instruments, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, “Treason! treason!”
So they made way for her. She went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king’s house; and they killed her there.
The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set.
From the rising of the sun to its going down, Yahweh’s name is to be praised.
Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:
Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in Yahweh’s house. Then the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open.
They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of Yahweh’s house, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.
Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north. Behold, there was a place on the back part westward.
Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.