Hebrew word · H4064
מַדְוֶה
madveh
disease
Disease or ailment. It comes from the root dwh, 'to be faint, unwell'. The related adjective dāweh describes someone faint or sick, and also a woman during menstruation (Lev 15:33; Lam 1:13). The word suggests a weakening, draining illness.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
sickness, disease
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 Deuteronomy 7:15
- Range of meaning
Disease or ailment. It comes from the root dwh, 'to be faint, unwell'. The related adjective dāweh describes someone faint or sick, and also a woman during menstruation (Lev 15:33; Lam 1:13). The word suggests a weakening, draining illness.
- Against the English
Translated 'diseases' everywhere. The English loses the fact that the word is rare and that it deliberately pairs with Deut 28:60.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Only twice in the Bible: here and in Deut 28:60, 'he will bring back upon you all the madweh of Egypt that you dreaded'. Compare Exod 15:26, which uses a different word (maḥălâ): 'I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on Egypt, for I am YHWH your healer', and Exod 23:25, 'I will remove (hēsîr) sickness from your midst'.
Where it appears
Deuteronomy · 2
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Deuteronomy 7:15 מַדְוֵי֩ [the] diseases of
And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
Here: A rare word, used in the Bible only here and in Deut 28:60. It comes from a root meaning 'to be faint or unwell', so the picture is of draining, weakening illness. It is plural and bound to 'Egypt': 'the diseases-of-Egypt'.
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Deuteronomy 28:60 מַדְוֵ֣ה <the> disease of
He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.