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. Jeremiah 29:27לָ֚מָּה · why
    So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you?
  2. Jeremiah 30:15מַה־ · Why
    Why do you cry out over your wound? Your pain has no cure! Because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins I have done these things to you.
  3. Jeremiah 33:24מָֽה־ · what
    “Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation.
  4. Jeremiah 37:18מֶה֩ · How
    Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people, that you have put me in prison?
  5. Jeremiah 38:25מַה־ · what; וּמַה־ · and what
    If the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’
  6. Jeremiah 40:15לָ֧מָּה · Why
    Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah. “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah,” he said. “No one will know it. Why should he take your life and scatter all the people of Judah who have gathered to you, so that the remnant of Judah would perish?”
  7. Jeremiah 44:7לָמָה֩ · Why
    So now, this is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves by cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and infant, leaving yourselves without a remnant?
  8. Jeremiah 48:19מַה־ · What
    Stand by the road and watch, O dweller of Aroer! Ask the man fleeing or the woman escaping, ‘What has happened?’
  9. Jeremiah 49:4מַה־ · Why
    Why do you boast of your valleys—your valleys so fruitful, O faithless daughter? You trust in your riches and say, ‘Who can come against me?’
  10. Lamentations 2:13מָֽה־ · What; מָ֣ה · what; מָ֤ה · what
    What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?
  11. Lamentations 3:39מַה־ · Why
    Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
  12. Lamentations 5:1מֶֽה־ · what
    Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
  13. Lamentations 5:20לָ֤מָּה · Why
    Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
  14. Ezekiel 8:6מֵהֶם · what
    “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”
  15. Ezekiel 12:9מָ֖ה · What
    “Son of man, hasn’t the rebellious house of Israel asked you, ‘What are you doing?’
  16. Ezekiel 12:22מָֽה־ · what
    “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by, and every vision fails’?
  17. Ezekiel 15:2מַה־ · how
    “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?
  18. Ezekiel 16:30מָ֤ה · How
    How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!
  19. Ezekiel 17:12מָה־ · what
    “Now say to this rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, carried off its king and officials, and brought them back with him to Babylon.
  20. Ezekiel 18:2מַה־ · What
    “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge’?
  21. Ezekiel 18:31וְלָ֥מָּה · Why
    Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?
  22. Ezekiel 19:2מָ֤ה · What
    …and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.
  23. Ezekiel 20:29מָ֣ה · What
    So I asked them: ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ (And to this day it is called Bamah.)
  24. Ezekiel 21:7מָ֖ה
    And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD.”
  25. Ezekiel 21:13וּמָ֕ה · And what
    Surely testing will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue?’ declares the Lord GOD.
  26. Ezekiel 24:19מָה־ · what
    Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things you are doing mean to us?”
  27. Ezekiel 33:11וְלָ֥מָּה · For why
    Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
  28. Ezekiel 33:30מָ֣ה
    As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you near the city walls and in the doorways of their houses. One speaks to another, each saying to his brother, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD!’
  29. Ezekiel 37:18מָה־ · what
    When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’
  30. Daniel 1:10לָמָּה֩ · why
    …but he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age? You would endanger my head before the king!”
  31. Daniel 10:20לָמָּה־ · why
    “Do you know why I have come to you?” he said. “I must return at once to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, behold, the prince of Greece will come.
  32. Daniel 12:8מָ֥ה · what
    I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”
  33. Hosea 6:4מָ֤ה · What; מָ֥ה · What
    What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
  34. Hosea 9:5מַֽה־ · What
    What will you do on the appointed day, on the day of the LORD’s feast?
  35. Hosea 9:14מַה־ · what
    Give them, O LORD—what will You give? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that dry up!
  36. Hosea 10:3מַה־ · What
    Surely now they will say, “We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?”
  37. Hosea 14:8מַה־ · what
    O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
  38. Joel 1:18מַה־ · How
    How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
  39. Joel 2:17לָ֚מָּה · Why
    Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
  40. Joel 3:4מָה־ · what
    Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.
  41. Amos 4:13מַה־
    For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
  42. Amos 5:18לָמָּה־ · What
    Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
  43. Amos 7:8מָֽה־ · what
    “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
  44. Amos 8:2מָֽה־ · what
    “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
  45. Jonah 1:6מַה־ · How
    The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
  46. Jonah 1:8מַה־ · What [is]
    “Tell us now,” they demanded, “who is to blame for this calamity that is upon us? What is your occupation, and where have you come from? What is your country, and who are your people?”