Hebrew word · H4048

מָגַר

migartah

to cast

To throw down, cast, or overthrow. The Piel in Psalm 89:44 (Hebrew 89:45) means 'you cast his throne to the ground,' and the Aramaic cognate in Ezra 6:12 means 'overthrow.'

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to throw, cast, toss

1a) (Qal) to be thrown

1b) (Piel) to hurl

Aramaic equivalent: me.gar (מְגַר "to overthrow" H4049)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezekiel 21:12

Range of meaning

To throw down, cast, or overthrow. The Piel in Psalm 89:44 (Hebrew 89:45) means 'you cast his throne to the ground,' and the Aramaic cognate in Ezra 6:12 means 'overthrow.'

Against the English

KJV's 'terrors by reason of the sword' reads the word as the noun māgôr, 'terror' (as in Jeremiah's 'terror on every side'). Modern versions read 'thrown / delivered over to the sword.'

How it drifted

This is a disagreement over which root the consonants come from, not a later change in meaning. KJV follows older Jewish interpretations that heard 'terror' here.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB list this occurrence under māgar, 'thrown down.' The Septuagint appears to take it from gûr, 'to sojourn.'

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 89:44 מִגַּֽרְתָּה׃ you have thrown

    You have ended his splendor and cast his throne to the ground.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 21:12 מְגוּרֵ֤י thrown

    Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sword is wielded against My people; it is against all the princes of Israel! They are tossed to the sword with My people; therefore strike your thigh.

    Here: 'Those thrown down,' a passive participle: the princes are handed over and flung to the sword. Aramaic uses the same root for 'overthrow' (Ezra 6:12).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.