Hebrew word · H4109

מַהֲלָךְ

mahalakh

journey

A noun from halakh, 'to walk': a walk, a journey, a passage or walkway. Elsewhere it is used of a journey's length (Neh 2:6; Jonah 3:3–4, 'a three days' walk') and a passageway in Ezekiel's temple (Ezek 42:4). The plural here most naturally means 'goings', i.e. freedom to come and go: access.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

1) walk, journey, going, place to walk

1a) walk

1b) journey

1c) goings, free access

Also means: mah.lekh (מַהְלֵךְ "path" H4108)

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 Zechariah 3:7

Range of meaning

A noun from halakh, 'to walk': a walk, a journey, a passage or walkway. Elsewhere it is used of a journey's length (Neh 2:6; Jonah 3:3–4, 'a three days' walk') and a passageway in Ezekiel's temple (Ezek 42:4). The plural here most naturally means 'goings', i.e. freedom to come and go: access.

Against the English

KJV 'places to walk' is literal but vague. WEB 'a place of access' and ESV 'the right of access' give the sense. BSB/NIV 'a place among' is smooth but loses the movement, the picture of walking in and out. YLT 'conductors' follows the participle reading of the ancient versions.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX reads a participle: ἀναστρεφομένους, 'ones going about'. The Vulgate reads ambulantes, 'ones walking'. Targum Jonathan takes it as Joshua walking among the angels, linked to raising the dead. HALOT and BDB give 'access' as the sense of the Masoretic pointing.

Similar words

Where it appears

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 2:6 מַֽהֲלָכֲךָ֖ journey your

    Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 42:4 מַהֲלַךְ֩ a passage of

    In front of the chambers was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north.

Jonah · 2

  1. Jonah 3:3 מַהֲלַ֖ךְ a journey of

    This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.

  2. Jonah 3:4 מַהֲלַ֖ךְ a journey of

    On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 3:7 מַהְלְכִ֔ים goings

    “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here.

    Here: 'Goings', meaning the right to come and go: free access. It echoes 'walk' at the start of the verse. Ancient translators read it as 'ones who walk' (see textual notes).

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