מַדּוּעַ
maddûwaʻ · H4069 · Hebrew · 72 occurrences
Meanings
-
why?, for what purpose?
A reference to the cause, reason or purpose of an event; normally used in questions with the purpose of identifying that cause, reason, or purpose; sometimes used in rhetorical questions expressing one's conviction that these things cannot be identified
ExamplesGenesis 26:27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
Genesis 40:7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”
Exodus 1:18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?”
How it’s used
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 1 word
- τίς tís · G5101 · who? what?, why? for what reason?
- Greek interrogative pronoun τίς systematically renders Hebrew interrogative adverb מַדּוּעַ in LXX translation contexts where both express direct questions about reason or cause (why/wherefore), representing standard functional equivalence between Hebrew and Greek interrogative systems despite different parts of speech.
Semantic domains 1 entry
- Perceptive Referents003002004
- מַדּוּעַ is the interrogative "why" or "wherefore," as in its frequent use introducing a question about the reason or grounds for something (e.g. Genesis 18:13's "why did Sarah laugh"), referring to an unstated reason or cause behind an event.
Word family 9 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4069. maddua מַדּוּעַ61 and :(Exo 18:19) מַדֻּעַ adverb wherefore? (probably contracted…
מַדּוּעַ61 and :(Exo 18:19) מַדֻּעַ
adverb wherefore? (probably contracted from מַהיָּֿדוּעַ what being known ? i.e. from what motive? so Ges Ew§325 c Ol§223 f, compare in Greek τί μαθών;) — wherefore? on what account ? Gen 26:27 אֵלָ֑י בָּאתֶם מַדּוּעַ, Gen 40:7; Exo 1:18; Exo 2:18; Exo 3:8 (in an indirect question), Exo 5:14; Exo 18:14; Lev 10:17; Jos 17:14 (all in Hexateuch), Jdg 5:28 (twice in verse); 2Sa 3:7; 2Sa 11:10 etc., Isa 5:4; Isa 50:2; Isa 63:2 (all in Isaiah); in Jeremiah 16 t., oft, rhetorically, after a double question introduced by הֲאִ֗֗֗ם, expressing affected surprise: Jer 2:14 (see Gf) is Israel a slave (unable to defend himself)? wherefore, then, is he become a prey? (some other cause must therefore be found for Israel's misfortune), Jer 2:31; Jer 8:5, Jer 8:19, Jer 8:22; Jer 14:19; Jer 22:28; Jer 49:1, compare Jer 30:6; Job 3:12; Job 18:8 (never in Psalms).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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