Aramaic word · H4291

מְטָא

meta'

to reach

Biblical Aramaic verb meaning to reach, attain or arrive at a point. Used of space (reaching a height or place), of time ("the time arrived") and of events or decrees coming upon someone. It matches Hebrew verbs like מָצָא in the sense 'reach, overtake'.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to reach, come upon, attain

1a) (P'al)

1a1) to reach, come to

1a2) to reach, extend

1a3) to come upon

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 Daniel 4:28

Range of meaning

Biblical Aramaic verb meaning to reach, attain or arrive at a point. Used of space (reaching a height or place), of time ("the time arrived") and of events or decrees coming upon someone. It matches Hebrew verbs like מָצָא in the sense 'reach, overtake'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say "came upon", which keeps the picture of something arriving at and settling on the king. BSB, NIV and NASB say "happened to", which is accurate but flatter: it reports an event and loses the sense of a sentence that had been travelling toward its target and has now arrived.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Daniel's Aramaic: 4:11 and 4:20 (English numbering), where the tree's height 'reached' heaven. 4:22: 'your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven'. 4:24: 'the decree of the Most High which has come upon my lord the king'. 6:24: the lions overpowered the men before they 'reached' the bottom of the pit. 7:13: one like a son of man 'came' to the Ancient of Days. 7:22: 'the time arrived'. The verb is common in later Aramaic (Targums, Syriac) with the same range.

Where it appears

Daniel · 8

  1. Daniel 4:11 יִמְטֵ֣א it reached

    The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.

  2. Daniel 4:20 יִמְטֵ֣א it reached

    The tree you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached the sky and was visible to all the earth,

    Here: "Reached" or "was reaching". The verb form describes an ongoing state: the tree's top kept touching the heavens. This is a standing condition, not a single event.

  3. Daniel 4:22 וּמְטָ֣ת and it has reached

    you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.

  4. Daniel 4:24 מְטָ֖ת it has reached

    This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against my lord the king:

  5. Daniel 4:28 מְּטָ֔א it came

    All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.

    Here: A completed action ("it reached"). The same verb ran through the dream: the tree 'reached' heaven, the king's greatness 'reached' heaven, and the Most High's decree had 'come upon' the king (v. 24). Now that decree arrives at its target.

  6. Daniel 6:24 מְט֞וֹ they reached

    At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

    Here: 'Arrive at, reach'. The lions caught them while they were still falling.

  7. Daniel 7:13 מְטָ֔ה he reached

    In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence.

    Here: 'He reached / arrived.' The figure comes all the way into the presence of the throne. The same verb is used in Daniel for reaching a destination (4:11, 22; 6:24).

  8. Daniel 7:22 מְטָ֔ה it arrived

    until the Ancient of Days arrived and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for them to possess the kingdom.

    Here: 'Arrived, reached (its point)'. The appointed moment comes due, the way a date on a calendar arrives. Nothing the horn does can delay it.

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