Hebrew word · H4272

מָחַץ

machatz

to wound

To strike through, smash, shatter. It is a violent battle word: crushing an enemy's head or forehead, smashing his loins. It is much stronger than 'wound' in the sense of a cut or bruise.

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to smite through, shatter, wound severely

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to shatter

1a2) shattering (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

From the study of Deuteronomy 32:39

Range of meaning

To strike through, smash, shatter. It is a violent battle word: crushing an enemy's head or forehead, smashing his loins. It is much stronger than 'wound' in the sense of a cut or bruise.

Against the English

Most versions have 'I wound' (KJV, ESV, BSB, WEB). YLT has 'I have smitten', and NIV and NASB have 'I have wounded'. 'Wound' is too mild for the crushing blow the Hebrew describes. Present-tense renderings also lose the fact that the striking has already happened while the healing is still to come.

How it drifted

'Wound' has softened in English and now suggests an injury more than a crushing blow.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 24:8, 17 (Balaam: 'he shall crush the forehead of Moab'); Judg 5:26 (Jael smashing Sisera's head); Deut 33:11; Ps 68:21; 110:5–6; Hab 3:13. Job 5:18 is a close parallel: 'he wounds and binds up; he shatters (yimchats), and his hands heal (tirpenah).' The Ugaritic cognate mḫṣ is the standard verb for a god or warrior striking down an enemy.

From the study of Psalm 18:38

Range of meaning

To strike violently, smash or shatter; sometimes to pierce through with a weapon. Most uses describe a disabling or fatal blow: shattering heads (Psalm 68:21; 110:6; Habakkuk 3:13), smashing an enemy's forehead (Numbers 24:17), striking through the loins (Deuteronomy 33:11), shattering foes with arrows (Numbers 24:8). Jael's blow to Sisera's temple uses it (Judges 5:26). God says "I wound (māḥaṣtî) and I heal" (Deuteronomy 32:39), and God "shattered Rahab," the sea monster (Job 26:12).

Against the English

KJV has "wounded," which a modern reader hears as "injured," someone who might recover. BSB and NIV have "crushed" and NASB has "shattered"; these keep the force of the word. ESV's "thrust them through" and WEB's "strike them through" lean toward the piercing side of the word's range, which is legitimate (Numbers 24:8 uses it of arrows) but narrower.

How it drifted

In 1611 "wound" was a strong battle word, often meaning a mortal blow. In everyday modern English it usually means a survivable injury, so the KJV rendering now sounds weaker than the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same verb, mḫṣ, is the standard word for smiting in Ugaritic myth (northern Canaan, about 1300 BC). The goddess Anat "smites" her foes, and Baal is told "when you smite Lotan," the sea serpent (KTU 1.5 I 1). Hebrew poetry inherited this vocabulary of the divine warrior's crushing blow. In the Greek translation of the Psalms (LXX 17:39) it becomes ekthlipsō, "I will crush, press hard."

From the study of Job 26:12

Range of meaning

To strike hard, smash, shatter, pierce through, especially the head or loins of an enemy. Used of Jael crushing Sisera's head (Judg 5:26), God shattering his enemies' heads (Ps 68:21; 110:5–6), the star from Jacob crushing Moab's forehead (Num 24:17). It can also mean 'to wound' in contrast to healing (Deut 32:39 'I wound and I heal').

Against the English

BSB and ESV have 'shattered'. WEB and KJV have 'strikes/smiteth through'. NIV has 'cut … to pieces'. NLT has 'crushed'. All capture the violence. Lexicon glosses like 'wound' can sound too mild for a killing blow.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ugaritic mḫṣ is the standard verb for smiting enemies in the Baal cycle. In KTU 1.3 III, the goddess Anat boasts of destroying Yam (Sea), the dragon and the twisting serpent. In KTU 1.5 I, Baal is said to have struck Lotan, 'the fleeing serpent', and the phrase bṯn brḥ matches Job 26:13's naḥash bariaḥ.

Similar words

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 24:8 יִמְחָֽץ׃ it will wound [them]

    God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.

    Here: This is a strong word for a crushing, shattering blow. The same verb is used of Jael smashing Sisera's head (Judges 5:26) and of God wounding (Deuteronomy 32:39). It means more than 'pierce' or 'wound'.

  2. Numbers 24:17 וּמָחַץ֙ and it will shatter

    I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

    Here: 'And will smash'. It is a violent word for a crushing blow, used again and again for shattering an enemy's head (Judg 5:26; Ps 68:21; Ps 110:6; Hab 3:13).

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 32:39 מָחַ֙צְתִּי֙ I wound

    See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

    Here: 'I have struck', and struck hard. This verb is used for crushing heads and smashing through an enemy. It is in a completed tense: the blow has already landed.

  2. Deuteronomy 33:11 מְחַ֨ץ shatter

    Bless his substance, O LORD, and accept the work of his hands. Smash the loins of those who rise against him, and of his foes so they can rise no more.”

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 5:26 וּמָחֲצָ֥ה and she smashed

    She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:39 וָאֶמְחָצֵ֖ם and I shattered them

    I devoured and crushed them so they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.

Job · 2

  1. Job 5:18 יִ֝מְחַ֗ץ he shatters

    For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

    Here: A violent battle word, used for Jael smashing Sisera's head (Judges 5:26). It is stronger than the 'causes pain' of the first line, so the second line raises the stakes.

  2. Job 26:12 מָ֣חַץ he shattered

    By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.

    Here: A violent battlefield verb, used for crushing an enemy's head or skull (Judg 5:26; Ps 68:21). It describes a deathblow, not a light wound. Its Ugaritic counterpart mḫṣ is the verb used when the gods strike down Sea and the dragon.

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 18:38 אֶ֭מְחָצֵם I shattered them

    I crushed them so they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.

    Here: "I smashed them." This is a crushing, disabling blow, often aimed at the head in other passages, and not a minor wound. The verb opens the line, so the king's decisive stroke comes first. The ending "-em" ("them") points back to "my enemies" in verse 37.

  2. Psalm 68:21 יִמְחַץ֮ he will shatter

    Surely God will crush the heads of His enemies, the hairy crowns of those who persist in guilty ways.

  3. Psalm 68:23 תִּֽמְחַ֥ץ it may smash

    that your foot may be dipped in the blood of your foes—the tongues of your dogs in the same.”

    Here: A violent word for a blow that crushes or breaks through. It is the same verb used two verses earlier: "God will crush (yimḥaṣ) the heads of his enemies" (v. 21). The foot that smashes is Israel's, finishing what God started. Many scholars and ancient versions read a different verb here, "bathe" or "dip" (see textual notes).

  4. Psalm 110:5 מָחַ֖ץ he shatters

    The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

    Here: A violent battle verb for smashing heads or running an enemy through. It is in the Hebrew past tense, 'he has smashed.' Here that probably presents the victory as so certain it can be described as already done.

  5. Psalm 110:6 מָ֥חַץ he shatters

    He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.

    Here: The same verb as verse 5 ('he will crush kings'), repeated on purpose. The form presents the action as complete ('he has shattered'), so the victory is pictured as already won. The word describes a fatal blow, often to the head.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:13 מָחַ֤צְתָּ you have shattered

    You went forth for the salvation of Your people, to save Your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked and stripped him from head to toe. Selah

    Here: A violent word for a crushing or piercing blow, used again and again for smashing an enemy's head (Judges 5:26; Psalm 68:21; Psalm 110:6). 'Wounded' (KJV) is too weak.

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