Hebrew word · H4220

מֵחַ

mechim

fatling

A fat, well-fed animal (Ps 66:15, 'burnt offerings of fatlings'). By extension it can describe people who are prosperous and well-fed.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 15, 2026

What it means

fatling, fat one

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

Range of meaning: A fat, well-fed animal (Ps 66:15, 'burnt offerings of fatlings'). By extension it can describe people who are prosperous and well-fed.
Against the English: KJV 'fat ones'; BSB, WEB, NIV and ESV 'the rich / the wealthy'. Some modern versions (RSV, NRSV, NLT) take it as animals, 'fatlings', who are themselves the ones grazing.
How it drifted: KJV's 'fat ones' can sound to a modern reader like a comment on body size. To an Israelite, being fat meant prosperity and plenty, and in the prophets it often meant the complacent rich (compare Amos 4:1, 'cows of Bashan').
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 66:15 (animals). Fatness as an image for the prosperous and self-satisfied: Deut 32:15; Jer 5:28; Amos 4:1; Ezek 34:16, 20.

Range of meaning: 'Fatling', a fattened animal. It occurs only here and in Isaiah 5:17. It is probably related to מֹחַ, 'marrow' (Job 21:24), and to the verb behind Isaiah 25:6, 'rich food full of marrow' (šĕmānîm mĕmuḥāyim). The sense is rich, well-fed, prime.
Against the English: 'Fatlings' (KJV, BSB, YLT) is accurate but old-fashioned. 'Fat animals' (WEB) and 'fattened animals' are plainer. Modern readers may not realise that in Israel fat meant richness and quality, the best part. All the fat belonged to the LORD (Lev 3:16).
Used elsewhere in the period: The LXX translates it here as ὁλοκαυτώματα μεμυαλωμένα, 'burnt offerings full of marrow', which shows the translators heard the link with 'marrow'. The Latin Psalter follows with holocausta medullata.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 66:15 מֵחִ֣ים fatlings

I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will offer bulls and goats. Selah

Here: Well-fed, fattened animals, probably connected with the Hebrew word for marrow. These are the richest and most valuable stock, the kind a herder would least like to give up.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 5:17 מֵחִ֖ים fatlings

Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.

Here: Literally 'fat ones', a word for well-fed animals (Ps 66:15). Here it most likely means the rich, pictured as fattened. It is also possible that it means the plump livestock that once filled their estates.

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