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# מָאֵן

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H3985

**refuse** — used 41 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

refuse [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/3985/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

מָאֵן: vb. Pi. refuse (Qal [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/3985/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** vb. Pi. refuse (Qal perhaps be distasteful, cf. Syriac ܡܶܐܢ taeduit, piguit, Aph. be slothful; NH Pi., as term. techn. of girl, refuse to acknowledge marriage contract; poss. akin to Ethiopic መነነ reject; Arabic مَأَنَ is sustain, maintain);— Pf. מֵאֵן Ex 7:14 + 4 times; fs. מֵאֲנָה Je 15:18 + 3 times; מֵאַנְתָּ Ex 10:3, etc.; Impf. יְמָאֵן Ex 22:16; וַיְמָאֵן Gn 37:35 + 8 times etc.; Inf. abs. מָאֵן Ex 22:16;—refuse, (sq. ל with inf. except 6 times) human subj. Gn 37:35 (J), Je 31:15; Ex 22:16(×2) Nu 20:21; 22:14 (all E), Dt 25:7; 1 S 8:19; 2 S 2:23; 13:9; 1 K 20:35; 21:15 Est 1:12; Je 50:33 cf. Jb 6:7 ψ 77:3 Pr 21:25 Je 15:18; without Inf. וַיְמָאֵן וַיֹּאמֶר Gn 39:8; 48:19 (both J), 1 S 28:23; also 2 K 5:16; especially of refusing to obey י׳’s commands Ex 4:23; 7:14; 10:3; 16:28 (all J), Ne 9:17; also ψ 78:10 Pr 21:7; Ho 11:5, v. especially Je 3:3; 5:3(×2); 8:5; 9:5; 11:10 cf. 25:28, Zc 7:11; without Inf. = be recusant Pr 1:24; Is 1:20; once subj. י׳ Nu 22:13 (E).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 39 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (3 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (3 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: he refused (9); they refused (7); he has refused (4).

## In the verses

[Proverbs 21:7](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.21.7/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.21.7/#tree)

שֹׁד־רְשָׁעִ֥ים יְגוֹרֵ֑ם כִּ֥י מֵ֝אֲנ֗וּ לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת מִשְׁפָּֽט׃

*Word for word:* \[the\].violence of.wicked.\[people\] it will.drag.them.away (dm) they.refuse to do justice

*JPS 1917:* The violence of the wicked shall drag them away; because they refuse to do justly.

[Job 6:7](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.6.7/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.6.7/#tree)

מֵאֲנָ֣ה לִנְגּ֣וֹעַ נַפְשִׁ֑י הֵ֝֗מָּה כִּדְוֵ֥י לַחְמִֽי׃

*Word for word:* it.refuses to touch.\[them\] self my they \[are\].like the.illness my.food my

*JPS 1917:* My soul refuseth to touch them; they are as the sickness of my flesh.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3985.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/3985/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).