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# מָשָׁל

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H4912

**proverb** — used 40 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

proverb [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4912/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

מָשָׁל²: n.m. proverb, parable [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4912/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. Is 14:4 proverb, parable (of sentences constructed in parallelism, usually of Hebrew Wisdom, but occas. of other types);—abs. מ׳ Ez 17:2 + 20 times; cstr. מְשַׁל 1 S 24:14; sf. מְשַׁלוֹ Nu 23:7 + 8 times; pl. מְשָׁלִים Ec 12:9 + 2 times; cstr. מִשְׁלֵי Pr 1:1 + 3 times;— proverbial saying, brief terse sentence of popular sagacity 1 S 10:12; Ez 12:22, 23; 18:2, 3; מ׳ הַקַּדְמֹנִי 1 S 24:14 proverb of the ancients. by-word ψ 44:15; 69:12; לְמָשָׁל וְלִשְׁנִינָה Dt 28:37 1 K 9:7; 2 Ch 7:20; Je 24:9; לְאוֹת וּלְמָשָׁל Ez 14:8. prophetic figurative discourse: נָשָׂא מָשָׁל lift up, utter a מ׳ Nu 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20, 21, 23 (all of Balaam); Is 14:4; Mi 2:4 (‖ נהי) Hb 2:6 (‖ חידה), (cf. Jb 27:1; 29:1 for same phrase under 6). similitude, parable, Ez 17:2; 21:5; 24:3. poem, of various kinds: the ode (Nu 21:27–30), the 3,000 pieces traditionally ascribed to Solomon 1 K 5:12, didactic psalms ψ 49:5; 78:2. sentences of ethical wisdom דִּבְרֵי חֲכָמִים collected in the מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה Pr 10:1; 25:1 (10:1–22:16 consisting of 376 couplets chiefly antithetical; 25–29 chiefly couplets of an emblematic type, but also occasional tristichs, tetrastichs, pentastichs, and decastichs. To these are appended דְּבָרִים of a more mixed character as to size and content in 22:7–24:22; 24:23–34; 30:1–14; v 15–33; 31:1–9; v 10–31; the Praise of Wisdom 1:8–9 is prefixed, and an introduction to the whole 1:1–7, in which the whole contents are represented as) משׁלים Pr 1:1, cf. v 6. The references in Jb 13:12; 27:1; 29:1; Pr 26:7, 9 Ec 12:9 are to the same type of wisdom.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 39 of its verses cited, 2 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (8 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (8 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: oracle (7); proverb (5); a proverb (4).

## In the verses

[Proverbs 1:1](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.1.1/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.1.1/#tree)

מִ֭שְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹ֣ה בֶן־דָּוִ֑ד מֶ֝֗לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

*Word for word:* the.proverbs of.Solomon the.son of.David the.king of.Israel

*JPS 1917:* THE PROVERBS of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

[Job 27:1](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.27.1/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.27.1/#tree)

וַיֹּ֣סֶף אִ֭יּוֹב שְׂאֵ֥ת מְשָׁל֗וֹ וַיֹּאמַֽר׃

*Word for word:* and he.repeated Job to.take.up discourse his and he.said

*JPS 1917:* And Job again took up his parable, and said:

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/4912.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4912/): 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).