Hebrew word · H4107
מָהַל
mahul
to weaken
Found only here in the Bible. Later Hebrew uses the verb for mixing or diluting liquids, especially wine with water. Some scholars connect it with a sense of 'cutting', much as English speaks of 'cutting' a drink. Lexicons give 'weakened (by dilution)' or 'diluted'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to circumcise, weaken, cut down
1a) (Qal) weakened (participle)
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
- Range of meaning
Found only here in the Bible. Later Hebrew uses the verb for mixing or diluting liquids, especially wine with water. Some scholars connect it with a sense of 'cutting', much as English speaks of 'cutting' a drink. Lexicons give 'weakened (by dilution)' or 'diluted'.
- Against the English
'Mixed with water' (KJV, WEB) can sound neutral. 'Diluted' (BSB, NIV, NASB) is closer. YLT's 'polluted' catches the negative judgment but brings in a sense of contamination or ritual impurity that the word does not carry.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Not used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning comes from context, from post-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, and from the ancient versions (Septuagint misgousi, 'they mix'; Vulgate mixtum, 'mixed').
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 1:22 מָה֥וּל [has been] mixed
Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.
Here: 'Cut' or 'weakened'. This verb form appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. In later Hebrew the verb is used for diluting liquids, so it is close to the English idiom of 'cutting' a drink. It is a passive participle, so it describes the drink's present condition: watered down.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.