Market

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A public place (as an open space in a town) or a large building, where a market is held; a market place or market house; esp., a place where provisions are sold.

(2): ( n.) An opportunity for selling anything; demand, as shown by price offered or obtainable; a town, region, or country, where the demand exists; as, to find a market for one's wares; there is no market for woolen cloths in that region; India is a market for English goods.

(3): ( n.) The price for which a thing is sold in a market; market price. Hence: Value; worth.

(4): ( n.) The privelege granted to a town of having a public market.

(5): ( v. i.) To deal in a market; to buy or sell; to make bargains for provisions or goods.

(6): ( n.) A meeting together of people, at a stated time and place, for the purpose of traffic (as in cattle, provisions, wares, etc.) by private purchase and sale, and not by auction; as, a market is held in the town every week.

(7): ( v. t.) To expose for sale in a market; to traffic in; to sell in a market, and in an extended sense, to sell in any manner; as, most of the farmes have marketed their crops.

(8): ( n.) Exchange, or purchase and sale; traffic; as, a dull market; a slow market.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In Greek Agora in Latin Forum a large open area in many ancient cities, especially of Greece and Rome, having the public market on one side only, the other sides of the are being occupied by temples, theatres, colonnades, courts of justice, baths, and other public structures, the whole square often presenting a magnificent appearance.

Here was the city exchange, the focus to which converged all the lines of public life. Hither laborers resorted in search of employment,  Matthew 20:3-7 , and children to pursue their sports,  Luke 7:32 . Here the ordinary assemblies of the people were held; here philosophers and statesmen met and debated; here laws were promulgated and news announced; hither men resorted for pleasure as well as for business.

The most notable public men, and indeed all classes of citizens, here congregated; and what was done here was done before the whole city. Hence the proud Pharisees desired "greeting in the market places,"  Matthew 12:38; and Paul resorted to the agora at Athens to meet and convince the philosophers,  Acts 17:17; and the masters of the damsel at Philippi exorcised by Paul and Silas, "drew them into the market place unto the rulers,"  Acts 16:19 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Market, or Market Place . In the Old Testament this word occurs only once.  Ezekiel 27:13, A. V.; in the New Testament oftener,  Matthew 23:7;  Mark 12:38;  Luke 11:43;  Luke 20:46;  Acts 16:19, etc., and we learn from  Matthew 20:3 that not only were all kinds of produce offered for sale here, but hither resorted also the laborers to find employment. It was frequented by business men and by crowds of idlers and loungers. In a strictly Oriental city, such as Jerusalem, the market had not, like the forum, this character of being the centre of all public life. Still it was always a lively place, generally situated just within the gate, and the principal scene of trade and traffic.

King James Dictionary

M`ARKET, n. L. mercatus, from mercor,to buy.

1. A public place in a city or town, where provisions or cattle are exposed to sale an appointed place for selling and buying at private sale, a distinguished from an auction. 2. A public building in which provisions are exposed to sale a market-house. 3. Sale the exchange of provisions or goods for money purchase or rate of purchase and sale. The seller says he comes to a bad market, when the buyer says he comes to a good market. We say, the markets are low or high by which we understand the price or rate of purchase. We say that commodities find a quick or ready market markets are dull. We are not able to find a market for our goods or provisions. 4. Place of sale as the British market the American market. 5. The privilege of keeping a public market.

M`ARKET, To deal in market to buy or sell to make bargains for provisions or goods.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The bazaars of the East are the resort of the idle and news-mongers. Hence, Agoraioi ," market frequenters," is another name for "fellows of the baser sort" ( Acts 17:5 Greek).

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( מִעֲרָב , Maarab'), a mercantile term, found only in Ezekiel 27 (rendered "merchandise," except in  Ezekiel 27:13;  Ezekiel 27:17;  Ezekiel 27:19;  Ezekiel 27:25), in several senses:

(a) properly Barter, and so trade, traffic ( Ezekiel 27:9;  Ezekiel 27:27);

(b) place of barter, Zmart ( Ezekiel 27:12-13;  Ezekiel 27:17;  Ezekiel 27:19);

(c) Gain, wealth, acquired by traffic ( Ezekiel 27:27;  Ezekiel 27:34; plur.  Ezekiel 27:33, perh. Precious Wares), like סִחִר , "merchandise," and עַזָּבוֹן , "fair," "ware." In the N. Test. the word Agora ( Ἀγορά ), thus rendered ("market-place" in  Matthew 20:3;  Mark 12:38;  Luke 7:32;  Acts 16:19), denotes generally any place of public resort in towns and cities where the people came together; and hence more specially it signifies

(a) a Public Place, a broad street, etc. ( Matthew 11:16;  Matthew 20:3;  Matthew 23:7;  Mark 6:56;  Mark 12:38;  Luke 7:32;  Luke 11:43;  Luke 20:46);

(b) Ajo Ruin or market-place, where goods were exposed for sale, and assemblies or public trials held ( Acts 16:19;  Acts 17:17). In  Mark 7:4 it is doubtful whether Ἀγορά denotes the market itself, or is put for that which is brought from the market; but the known customs of the Jews suggest a preference of the former signification. From this is derived the term Agorceus ( Ἀγοραῖος ), properly signifying the things belonging to, or persons frequenting the Agora; improperly rendered "in law" in  Acts 19:38, where it is applied to the days on which public trials were held in the forum; and in  Acts 17:5 (where it is rendered "baser sort") it denotes idlers, or persons lounging about in the markets and other places of public resort. There is a peculiar force in this application of the word, when we recollect that the market-places or bazaars of the East were, and are at this day, the constant resort of unoccupied people, the idle, and the newsmongers.

In very early periods markets were held at or near the gates of cities, sometimes within and sometimes without the walls. Here commodities were exposed for sale, either in the open air or in tents ( 2 Kings 7:18). It is still not unusual in the East for the wholesale market for country produce and cattle to be held (for a short time in the early part of the morning) at the gates of towns; but manufactured goods and various sorts of fruits are retailed in the bazaars within the towns. In the time of our Savior, as we learn from Josephus, the markets were enclosed in the same manner as the modern Eastern bazaars, which are shut at night, and contain traders' shops disposed in rows or streets; and in large towns the dealers in particular commodities are confined to certain streets. That this was also the case in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, we may infer from his expression, "the bakers' street" ( Jeremiah 37:21). That a close connection existed between those of the same craft, we learn incidentally from  Nehemiah 3:32. In rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile, "the goldsmiths and the merchants" acted together in repairing the walls. Josephus calls the valley between Mounts Zion and Moriah the ‘ Tyropoeon (Τυροποιῶν ), i.e. the valley "of the cheesemakers." In like manner there is mentioned the valley of Charashim, or "the craftsmen" ( 1 Chronicles 4:14;  Nehemiah 11:35). Josephus also mentions a street of the meat- dealers. The streets of Eastern cities are generally distinguished from each other, not by the separate names which they bear, but by the sort of traffic or business carried on in them. Thus at Cairo and other large Oriental cities we hear of the market of the butchers, of the fruit-dealers, the copper-ware sellers, the jewelers, and so on; each consisting of a row of shops on each side of the street devoted to that particular kind of trade (Hackett, Illustra. Of Script, p. 61). (See Bargain); (See Bazaar); (See Commerce); (See Merchant).