Keraia
Lexicon

מָה

mahwhat?How to read Hebrew
hebrewOld TestamentQuestion word751 occurrences37 books657 verses

Definition

or מַה; or מָ; or מַ; also מֶה; a primitive particle; 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
Traditional renderings: how (long, oft, (-soever)), (no-) thing, what (end, good, purpose, thing), whereby(-fore, -in, -to, -with), (for) why.

In the Greek Old Testament

How the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament renders מָה:

Usage patterns

Old TestamentNew Testament

Occurrences

751 total
  1. Isaiah 40:18וּמַה־ · To what
    To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?
  2. Isaiah 40:27לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?
  3. Isaiah 41:22מָ֣ה
    “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming.
  4. Isaiah 45:9מַֽה־ · What
    Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
  5. Isaiah 45:10מַה־ · What; מַה־ · What
    Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’”
  6. Isaiah 52:7מַה־ · How
    How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
  7. Isaiah 55:2לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
  8. Isaiah 58:3לָ֤מָּה · Why
    “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
  9. Isaiah 63:17לָ֣מָּה · Why
    Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
  10. Jeremiah 1:11מָה־ · what
    And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
  11. Jeremiah 1:13מָ֥ה · What
    Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”
  12. Jeremiah 2:5מַה־ · What
    This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.
  13. Jeremiah 2:18מַה־ · what will you gain; וּמַה־ · What will you gain
    Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
  14. Jeremiah 2:23מֶ֣ה · what
    “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,
  15. Jeremiah 2:29לָ֥מָּה · Why
    Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
  16. Jeremiah 2:33מַה־ · How
    How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
  17. Jeremiah 2:36מַה־ · How
    How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
  18. Jeremiah 4:30מַֽה־ · one
    And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
  19. Jeremiah 5:15מַה־ · and whose speech
    Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
  20. Jeremiah 5:19מֶ֗ה · what
    And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”
  21. Jeremiah 5:31וּמַֽה־ · but what
    The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
  22. Jeremiah 6:20לָמָּה־ · What use
    What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”
  23. Jeremiah 7:17מָ֛ה · what
    Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
  24. Jeremiah 8:6מֶ֣ה · What
    I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into battle.
  25. Jeremiah 8:9מֶ֖ה · what
    The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?
  26. Jeremiah 8:14מָה֙
    Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
  27. Jeremiah 9:12מָה֙
    Who is the man wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a desert, so no one can pass through it?
  28. Jeremiah 11:15מֶ֣ה · What right
    What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked, then you rejoice.
  29. Jeremiah 13:21מַה־ · What
    What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor?
  30. Jeremiah 14:8לָ֤מָּה · why
    O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night?
  31. Jeremiah 14:9לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? Yet You are among us, O LORD, and we are called by Your name. Do not forsake us!
  32. Jeremiah 15:18לָ֣מָּה · Why
    Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.
  33. Jeremiah 16:10מֶה֩; וּמֶ֤ה · What; וּמֶ֣ה · What
    When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
  34. Jeremiah 20:18לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?
  35. Jeremiah 22:8מֶ֨ה
    And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
  36. Jeremiah 22:23מַה־ · how
    O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
  37. Jeremiah 23:28מַה־ · For what
    Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.
  38. Jeremiah 23:33מַה־ · What; מַה־ · What
    “Now when this people or a prophet or priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you are to say to them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’
  39. Jeremiah 23:35מֶה־ · What; וּמַה־ · or ‘What
    This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
  40. Jeremiah 23:37מֶה־ · What; וּמַה־ · and ‘What
    Thus you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
  41. Jeremiah 24:3מָֽה־ · what
    “Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”
  42. Jeremiah 27:13לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?
  43. Jeremiah 27:17לָ֧מָּה · Why
    Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?