Hebrew word · H4342
מַכְבִּיר
lemakhbir
to increase
Comes from kbr, 'to be much, many, great'. This form appears only here as a noun, meaning 'abundance, plenty'. The related adjective kabbir means 'mighty, great' (Job 34:17, 24; 36:5).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) (Hiphil) to be in abundance
1a) abundance (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
Comes from kbr, 'to be much, many, great'. This form appears only here as a noun, meaning 'abundance, plenty'. The related adjective kabbir means 'mighty, great' (Job 34:17, 24; 36:5).
- Against the English
All the main English versions say 'in abundance', which is accurate.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The verb yakhbir is used in Job 35:16 (Job 'multiplies words') and in 34:37. The ancient Greek translation (LXX) seems to have read the consonants as kabbir, 'the mighty one', rendering roughly 'he gives food to the strong'.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 36:31 לְמַכְבִּֽיר׃ to abundance
For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance.
Here: 'To the point of plenty.' The word comes from the root kbr, 'to be many, much', which Job also uses for piling up words (35:16) and for God being 'mighty' (36:5). It describes generous, more-than-enough supply.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.