מַהֵר
mahêr · H4118 · Hebrew · 14 occurrences
Meanings
-
to act quickly, to hasten
Action by which humans or deities act without delay
ExamplesExodus 32:8 “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
Deuteronomy 7:4 “For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.
Deuteronomy 7:22 “And the LORD your God will drive away these nations from you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you.
-
to happen soon
Process by which an event happens without delay
ExamplesDeuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Deuteronomy 28:20 “The LORD will send against you curses, panic, and rebuke, in everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me.
Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
How it’s used In 2 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
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- Not stated in the clause 1
With adverbsAdverbs
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- מְאֹדvery 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 4 words
- חוּשׁ chûwsh · H2363 · to come swiftly, to happen swiftly, to hurry
- Both words denote haste or speed, describing doing something quickly or urgently.
- דָּחַף dâchaph · H1765 · to be in haste, to hurry, to rush
- Both words denote haste and speed and can describe hurried action. מַהֵר (mahêr, H4118) has a broader range of use, but its core sense of haste overlaps with that of דָּחַף (dâchaph, H1765).
- בָּהַל bâhal · H926 · to be quick, to be hasty, to be rash
- Both words denote hastening or acting quickly. בָּהַל (bâhal, H926) has a broader range, with senses of fear, dismay and trouble alongside haste, while מַהֵר (mahêr, H4118) is more narrowly focused on speed and quickness; they overlap in the sense of haste.
- אוּץ ʼûwts · H213 · to be in haste, to hurry, to try hard
- Both words denote speed and urgency: one is a verb meaning 'to hasten', the other an adverb or adjective meaning 'quick' or 'hasty'.
In the other Testament 1 word
- ταχύ tachý · G5035 · quickly, hurriedly, swift
- Hebrew מַהֵר (mahêr, H4118) and Greek ταχύ (tachý, G5035) both denote rapidity or swiftness of action with minimal temporal delay, functioning as adverbial modifiers that emphasize the immediacy or speed with which an event occurs.
Semantic domains 7 entries
- Urge002003003023
- מַהֵר describes acting hastily or impulsively, illustrated at Proverbs 25:8 ("Do not go out hastily to argue your case") — a sense of rash urgency toward an action.
- Afraid002001002001
- This entry carries no independent “Afraid” sense of its own; every tagged occurrence is the adverb “quickly”, as in “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them” (Exodus 32:8). The “Afraid” domain is bundle-shared with the related lexemes מָהַר (mâhar, H4116) and מָהַר (mâhar, H4117) rather than independently attested here.
- Angry002001002002
- This entry's own tagged occurrences do genuinely reflect an urgency consistent with an anxious haste, as in “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them” (Exodus 32:8).
- Associate002003002002
- This entry carries no independent “Associate” sense of its own; every tagged occurrence is the adverb “quickly”, as in “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them” (Exodus 32:8). The “Associate” domain is bundle-shared with the related lexemes מָהַר (mâhar, H4116) and מָהַר (mâhar, H4117) rather than independently attested here.
- Fail002003003013
- This entry carries no independent “Fail” sense of its own; every tagged occurrence is the adverb “quickly”, as in “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them” (Exodus 32:8). The “Fail” domain is bundle-shared with the related lexemes מָהַר (mâhar, H4116) and מָהַר (mâhar, H4117) rather than independently attested here.
- Happen002002003003
- מַהֵר describes an event unfolding rapidly, illustrated at Exodus 32:8 ("they have quickly turned aside from the way") and Deuteronomy 9:12 ("your people... have behaved corruptly; they have quickly turned aside").
- Move002002001012
- מַהֵר describes rapid physical motion, illustrated at Joshua 2:5 ("Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them").
Word family 4 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
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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