ma.qom denotes a location, from a named site or dwelling area to an assigned seat, post, or sacred destination.

The term most often identifies a concrete location: a site of travel, hiding, settlement, conflict, or an event that receives a name. It also marks an assigned position such as a seat or post, a designated setting for the ark and prayer, and, in one clause, the position of replacement.

1. Concrete site or locality · dominant

   The singular forms identify particular locations in narrative: David comes to the site where Saul camped in 1 Samuel 26:5, and a locality receives the name Rock of Escape after Saul turns away in 1 Samuel 23:28. In 1 Chronicles 13:11 and 2 Chronicles 20:26, the APB renders clauses in which an event leads people to call the site by a name; the plural form in 1 Samuel 30:31 refers to multiple places David and his men had traveled.

   1 Samuel 26:51 Samuel 23:281 Chronicles 13:112 Chronicles 20:261 Samuel 30:31Amos 4:6
2. Designated setting for the ark and prayer · common

   In 1 Kings 8:6, the construct form marks the ark's designated destination within the inner sanctuary. The repeated singular forms in 1 Kings 8:29 and 2 Chronicles 6:21 occur in clauses about prayer directed toward a particular setting and hearing from the dwelling setting in heaven.

   1 Chronicles 15:11 Chronicles 15:31 Kings 8:61 Kings 8:291 Kings 8:302 Chronicles 6:21
3. Assigned position or personal location · common

   Construct forms mark a person's or official's allotted position: the APB renders Saul seated in his place and David's place empty in 1 Samuel 20:25, while 1 Kings 20:24 concerns appointing governors in the kings' positions. In 1 Samuel 27:5, the singular absolute form occurs in David's request to be given a location in a city where he may dwell.

   1 Samuel 20:251 Samuel 20:271 Kings 20:241 Samuel 3:21 Samuel 27:51 Samuel 29:4
4. Position of replacement · rare

   In 1 Samuel 2:20, the construct form occurs in Eli's blessing for offspring in the position of the petition Hannah made; the APB renders the relation as “in place of.” This is a relational use rather than identification of a geographic setting.

   1 Samuel 2:20

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly presents the term through “place,” including named sites, an ark's destination, and a person's seat or position; it also uses “in place of” in 1 Samuel 2:20. Because the APB renders whole verses loosely, these English expressions confirm the clauses' spatial or relational settings rather than supplying a word-by-word equivalence.