Hebrew word · H4079

מִדְיָן

midonim

contention

Strife, contention, quarrel, dispute. The word comes from the root דין (din), 'to judge, to plead a cause'. A madon/midyan is a dispute in the full sense: accusation, counter-accusation, a fight over who is in the right. The plural means repeated or ongoing quarrels.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

strife, contention

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 Proverbs 21:9

Range of meaning

Strife, contention, quarrel, dispute. The word comes from the root דין (din), 'to judge, to plead a cause'. A madon/midyan is a dispute in the full sense: accusation, counter-accusation, a fight over who is in the right. The plural means repeated or ongoing quarrels.

Against the English

'Quarrelsome' (BSB, NIV, ESV) and 'contentious' (NASB, WEB) are accurate. KJV's 'brawling' meant noisy wrangling in 1611, but today it suggests fistfights. Paraphrases that say 'nagging' shrink the word into petty complaining. The Hebrew points to open conflict and continual disputes.

How it drifted

'Brawl' moved in English from loud quarrelling toward physical fighting. 'Nagging' is a modern sitcom image that makes the problem sound trivial.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is almost confined to Proverbs. 'Hatred stirs up strife' (10:12). 'A hot-tempered man stirs up strife' (15:18). 'Like charcoal to embers … is a man of contention (ʾish midyanim) for kindling strife' (26:21), the exact male counterpart of this verse's 'woman of contentions'. 'Drive out the scoffer, and strife will go out' (22:10). 'The contentions of a wife are a continual dripping' (19:13; compare 27:15). It appears again in 21:19 and 25:24.

From the study of Proverbs 21:19

Range of meaning

Strife, contention, quarrel, dispute. It comes from the root דין (dîn), 'to judge, plead a case'. So a madôn is a contested claim, an argument pressed against someone. The plural means repeated quarrels.

Against the English

'Contentious' (KJV, BSB, WEB) and 'quarrelsome' (NIV, ESV, NLT) are both accurate. YLT's 'a woman of contentions' keeps the Hebrew shape best: the quarrelling describes her character, not a single bad day.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is mostly found in Proverbs. Proverbs 21:9, 25:24 and 27:15 use the same phrase, 'woman of contentions'. It is also applied to men: 'a man of contentions' kindles strife (26:21), and a hot-tempered man stirs up madôn (15:18). Jeremiah calls himself 'a man of strife and contention' (Jer 15:10). The Greek translation (the Septuagint, LXX) uses machimos, 'combative, quarrelsome'.

From the study of Proverbs 6:14

Range of meaning

'Strife, contention, quarrel, dispute'. It is a by-form of מָדוֹן (madon, H4066) and comes from the root דִּין (din), 'to judge, plead a case, contend'. It covers quarrels in a household (Prov 21:9, 19, the 'quarrelsome wife'), feuds between clans and brothers (18:19), and conflicts that need a legal ruling (18:18, the lot 'ends quarrels').

Against the English

KJV, ESV and BSB have 'discord', NASB 'strife', NIV and NLT 'conflict'/'trouble', YLT 'contentions'. All are acceptable. 'Discord' sounds a little abstract, as if it meant tension in the air. The Hebrew means actual disputes and grievances, the kind that end up before the elders.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is frequent in Proverbs (6:14, 19; 10:12; 15:18; 16:28; 17:14; 18:18–19; 22:10; 26:20–21). Prov 26:20: 'Without wood a fire goes out; without a whisperer, quarreling (madon) stops.' The Septuagint renders our clause 'he stirs up troubles (ταραχάς) for a city', which takes the damage as public and civic.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 10

  1. Proverbs 6:14 מִדְיָנִ֥ים contentions

    With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

    Here: From the root 'to judge, plead a case'. These are quarrels and feuds, often of the kind that end up as complaints before the elders at the gate. The plural suggests one dispute after another.

  2. Proverbs 18:18 מִ֭דְיָנִים contentions

    Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates strong opponents.

  3. Proverbs 18:19 וּ֝מִדְיָנִ֗ים and contentions

    An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

    Here: Plural: quarrels, ongoing disputes, the back-and-forth of strife. The same word opens 18:18 ('the lot ends quarrels'), which links the two proverbs. One verse gives a way to settle disputes; the next shows how hard disputes are to undo.

  4. Proverbs 19:13 מִדְיְנֵ֥י [the] contentions of

    A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.

    Here: Plural, 'quarrels of', meaning repeated rounds of contention. The word comes from the vocabulary of disputes and lawsuits, so the picture is constant arguing, accusing and objecting.

  5. Proverbs 21:9 מִ֝דְיָנִ֗ים contentions

    Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

    Here: 'Contentions', in the plural. The word comes from a root meaning to plead a case or argue a dispute. 'A woman of contentions' describes someone whose defining trait is constant disputes and accusations, not one bad day.

  6. Proverbs 21:19 מִדְיָנִ֣ים contentions

    Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.

    Here: Plural: 'quarrels', one dispute after another. 'Woman of quarrels' is a Hebrew way of describing her character: her life is marked by quarrelling. The word comes from the root for pleading a case, so it carries the sense of arguing a grievance.

  7. Proverbs 23:29 מִדְיָנִ֨ים contentions

    Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

    Here: Plural: quarrels, brawls, disputes. A favourite Proverbs word for strife that tears apart households and communities (6:14, 19; 26:21). Here it means the fights that start when people drink.

  8. Proverbs 25:24 מִ֝דְיָנִ֗ים contentions

    Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

  9. Proverbs 26:21 מִ֝דְיָנִ֗ים contentions

    Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

    Here: The plural means repeated, habitual quarrels. A 'man of contentions' is a person always mixed up in disputes, not someone who argued once.

  10. Proverbs 27:15 מִ֝דְיָנִ֗ים contentions

    A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike—

    Here: A plural noun: quarrels, arguments, running disputes. Hebrew describes people by what marks them, so 'a woman of quarrels' is someone whose life in the house is marked by repeated strife. The plural points to a habit, not one disagreement.

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