BOTTOM

bot'-um: Rendered by several Hebrew words: (1) sheresh, "root"; Chaldaic, shoresh (Job 36:30, "the bottom of the sea"). (2) qarqa', "soil," "pavement of tesserae" (Amos 9:3). (3) qetsebh, "cutting," "chop," "extremity" (Jonah 2:6, "the bottoms of the mountains"). (4) rephidhah, "railing," "couch" (Song of Solomon 3:10, "the bottom thereof of gold"). (5) cheq, "bosom," "lap" (Ezekiel 43:13-14,17, the Revised Version, margin "hollow"). (6) metsullah, "to be dark," "shadowy place," from primitive root tsalal, "to tumble down," i.e. "settle"; hence, the idea of a valley ("the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom," Zechariah 1:8 the Revised Version, margin "shady place"). The prophet may have been wont to frequent the myrtle grove in the glen or bottoms, in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, for meditation and prayer (BTP, II, 283).

M. O. Evans

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.