Original Language Studio

Exodus 32:12

“Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.” (KJV)

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Lexical meaning

מָהmâh · maw
H4100 · Hebrew

Definition: properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
Derivation: or מַה; or מָ; or מַ; also מֶה; a primitive particle;
KJV renderings: how (long, oft, (-soever)), (no-) thing, what (end, good, purpose, thing), whereby(-fore, -in, -to, -with), (for) why.
Grammar: לָ — preposition
מָּה֩ — particle (interrogative)
Code HR/Ti
Usage: Occurs 750 times in the Hebrew Bible.Genesis 2:19 Genesis 3:13 Genesis 4:6 Genesis 4:6 Genesis 4:10

Theological interpretation (AI)

The card on the left shows lexical data from published sources. Interpretation is separate: ask the Companion to explain how traditions read מָה here.

Verse 11 Verse 13

Hebrew text: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain). Morphology & lemmas: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, CC BY 4.0 (hb.openscriptures.org). Lexicon: Strong's Hebrew Dictionary (1894, public domain; JSON edition © Open Scriptures, CC BY-SA). Verse numbers follow the Hebrew text, which occasionally differs from English Bibles.