Word

מָהַהּ

mâhahh · H4102 · Hebrew · 9 occurrences

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Meanings

to wait, to linger, to tarry, to dawdle

Action by which humans defer action, either out of indecision or because something else needs to happen first

Examples
Genesis 19:16 But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city.
Genesis 43:10 “For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”
Exodus 12:39 And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had no yeast, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
to take time

Process by which an event does not take place as soon as expected or desired

Examples
Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay long.
to be astonished, to be stupefied, to be confused

Process by which humans are deeply emotionally affected by a difficult situation, to the extent that they do not know how to respond

Examples
Isaiah 29:9 Be delayed and horrified, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.

How it’s used In 4 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

9 occurrences in 7 groups

Not stated: you (more than one) 2
Not stated: he, she or it 2
אָנֹכִיI 1
םthey 1
Not stated: we 1
Not stated: I 1

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

3 occurrences in 4 groups

עַדto, as far as, until+ נָטָהto stretch out, to incline 1
עַדto, as far as, until+ בּוֹאto come, to go in, to bring 1
בin/on/with+ עֲרָבָהplain, Arabah, desert 1
לto/for+ שָׁמַרto keep, to guard, to observe 1

With adverbsAdverbs

1 occurrences in 1 groups

לֹאnot 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

2 occurrences in 2 groups

עַדto, as far as, until 1
לto/for 1

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.

Near synonyms 3 words

בּוּשׁ bûwsh · H954 · to be ashamed, to come to shame, to be put to shame: Both words denote delay or tarrying as part of their range of meaning. מָהַהּ (mâhahh, H4102) is primarily a verb of delaying and lingering, while בּוּשׁ (bûwsh, H954) is primarily a verb of shame that extends to contexts of delay, likely through the sense of hesitation or lingering in embarrassment.
אָחַר ʼâchar · H309 · to be delayed, to linger, to be slow: Both words denote temporal delay or lingering actions and could substitute for each other in context.
רָחַק râchaq · H7368 · to be far, to go far, to stay far: The pairing is real but narrow. מָהַהּ (mâhahh, H4102) ("delay, linger, tarry") has delay as its core sense, while רָחַק (râchaq, H7368) ("far, withdraw, remove") has spatial distancing as its primary meaning, with "Delay" being only one of eight domains (the others being spatial/relational). The delay sense of רָחַק (râchaq, H7368) appears derivative/secondary. Real overlap exists but is modest and asymmetric in centrality.

Semantic domains 3 entries

Non-Engage002003003012: מָהַהּ means to delay or hold back from acting, as in Genesis 19:16's Lot who "hesitated" before the men grasped his hand, tying the word to a failure to engage or proceed.
Delay002003003008: The verb's dominant sense is to tarry or delay, as in Exodus 12:39's Israel who "could not delay" when driven out of Egypt, placing it squarely among terms of postponement.
Afraid002001002001: The context of Genesis 19:16's hesitation ties the delay to fear or reluctance in the face of impending danger, linking the word's tarrying sense to an anxious reluctance to act.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H4102. mahah [מָהַהּ] verb only Hithpalpel linger, tarry (compare Arabic slow walk, delay…

H4102. mahah
[מָהַהּ] verb only
Hithpalpel linger, tarry (compare Arabic slow walk, delay (†am.)); —
Hithpalpel Perfect1singular הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְתִּי Psa 119:60; Psa 119:3plural הִתְמַהְמְהוּ Jdg 19:8; Jdg 19:1plural הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְנוּ Gen 43:10; Imperfect יִתְמַהְמַהּ Hab 2:3; ׳וַיִּתְמ Gen 19:16; Imperative masculine plural הִתְמַהְמְהוּ Isa 29:9; Infinitive לְהִתְמַחְמֵהַּ Exo 12:39; Participle מִתְמַהְמֵהַּ 2Sa 15:28; — linger, tarry, wait, of person, Gen 19:16; Gen 43:10 (J), Exo 12:39 (E), Jdg 3:26; Jdg 19:8; 2Sa 15:28; Isa 29:9; Psa 119:60 (with לֹא, opposed to חַ֫שְׁתִּי); subject חָזוֺן vision Hab 2:3
מְהוּמָה see הום. מְהוּמָן see אמן.
מְהֵיטַבְאֵל see יטב.

Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain

Topical studies with this word 3 entries

Afraid1 occurrence Delay1 occurrence Non-Engage7 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; 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.

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