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. Job 6:11וּמַה־ · What
    What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?
  2. Job 6:24וּמַה־ · how
    Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand how I have erred.
  3. Job 6:25מַה־ · How; וּמַה־ · But what
    How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
  4. Job 7:17מָֽה־ · What
    What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,
  5. Job 7:19כַּ֭מָּה · Will You never
    Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
  6. Job 7:20מָ֤ה · what; לָ֤מָה · Why
    If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?
  7. Job 7:21וּמֶ֤ה׀ · Why
    Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
  8. Job 9:2וּמַה־ · but how
    “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
  9. Job 9:12מַֽה־ · What
    If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
  10. Job 9:29לָמָּה־ · why
    Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
  11. Job 10:2מַה־
    I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
  12. Job 10:18וְלָ֣מָּה · Why then
    Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
  13. Job 11:8מַה־ · what; מַה־ · what
    They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
  14. Job 13:13מָֽה׃ · what [may]
    Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.
  15. Job 13:14מָ֤ה׀
    Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
  16. Job 13:23כַּמָּ֣ה · How many
    How many are my iniquities and sins? Reveal to me my transgression and sin.
  17. Job 13:24לָֽמָּה־ · Why
    Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?
  18. Job 15:9מַה־ · What
    What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?
  19. Job 15:12מַה־ · Why; וּֽמַה־ · and why
    Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
  20. Job 15:14מָֽה־ · What
    What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
  21. Job 16:3מַה־ · What
    Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
  22. Job 16:6מַה־ · how
    Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?
  23. Job 19:22לָ֭מָּה · Why
    Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
  24. Job 19:28מַה־ · [Let us]
    If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
  25. Job 21:15מַה־ · Who; וּמַה־ · and what
    Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
  26. Job 21:17כַּמָּ֤ה׀ · How often
    How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
  27. Job 21:21מַה־ · what
    For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
  28. Job 22:13מַה־ · What
    Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
  29. Job 22:17וּמַה־ · What
    They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
  30. Job 23:5מַה־ · what
    I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.
  31. Job 25:4וּמַה־ · How; וּמַה־ · How
    How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
  32. Job 26:2מֶה־ · How
    “How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble!
  33. Job 26:3מַה־ · How
    How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight!
  34. Job 26:7מָֽה׃
    He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
  35. Job 26:14וּמַה־ · how
    Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
  36. Job 27:8מַה־ · what [is]
    For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
  37. Job 27:12וְלָמָּה־ · Why then
    Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?
  38. Job 30:2לָ֣מָּה · What use
    What use to me was the strength of their hands, since their vigor had left them?
  39. Job 31:1וּמָ֥ה · How then
    “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
  40. Job 31:2וּמֶ֤ה׀ · For what [is]
    For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
  41. Job 31:14וּמָ֣ה · what; מָ֣ה · How
    …what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
  42. Job 34:4מַה־ · what
    Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.
  43. Job 34:33וּֽמַה־ · what
    Should God repay you on your own terms when you have disavowed Him? You must choose, not I; so tell me what you know.