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# מָשַׁשׁ

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H4959

**feel** — used 9 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

feel [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4959/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

מָשַׁשׁ: vb. feel, grope [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4959/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** vb. feel, grope (NH id. Pi; Arabic مَسَّ fell; Ethiopic መርሰሰ: Di166; Aramaic ܡܰܫ, מְשַׁשׁ Pa., Palp.—v. also ימשׁ, II. מושׁ);— Impf. 3 ms. sf. יְמֻשֵּׁנִי Gn 27:12 perhaps my father will feel me; וַיְמֻשֵּׁהוּ v 22 and he felt of him (both J). Pf. 2 ms. מִשַּׁשְׁתָּ; Impf. 3 ms. יְמַשֵּׁשׁ Dt 28:29, וַיְמַשֵּׁשׁ Gn 31:34; 3 mpl. יִמַשִׁשׁוּ Jb 5:14; 12:25; Pt. מְמַשֵּׁשׁ Dt 28:29;—feel over or through, grope:— וַיְמ׳ לָבָן אֶת־כָּל־הָאֹהֶל Gn 31:34 and Laban felt through the whole tent (i.e. searched it); so (obj. כֵּלַי) v 37 thou hast felt through all my possessions (or baggage; both E). grope, of blind Dt 28:29b (in sim.), periphr. conj., וְהָיִיתָ מְמַשֵּׁשׁ v 29a and thou shalt become one that gropes at noonday (fig. of judicial blindness); cf. Jb 5:14; 12:25. Impf. וְיָמֵשׁ חֹשֶׁךְ Ex 10:21 that one may feel (the) darkness; read also Imv. sf. הֲמִשֵּׁנִי (for והימשׁני, v. ימשׁ, p. 413 supr.) Ju 16:26 and let me touch the pillars (2 acc.)

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 8 of its verses cited, 2 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 (2 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: he (2); they grope (2); groping (1).

## In the verses

[Job 5:14](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.5.14/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.5.14/#tree)

יוֹמָ֥ם יְפַגְּשׁוּ־חֹ֑שֶׁךְ וְ֝כַלַּ֗יְלָה יְֽמַשְׁשׁ֥וּ בַֽצָּהֳרָֽיִם׃

*Word for word:* by.day they.meet darkness and like (the) night they.grope at (the) noon(s)

*JPS 1917:* They meet with darkness in the day-time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

[Job 12:25](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.12.25/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.12.25/#tree)

יְמַֽשְׁשׁוּ־חֹ֥שֶׁךְ וְלֹא־א֑וֹר וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗ם כַּשִּׁכּֽוֹר׃

*Word for word:* they.grope darkness and not light and he made.them.wander like (the) drunkard

*JPS 1917:* They grope in the dark without light, and He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/4959.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1502/4959/): 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).