Hebrew word · H4414

מָלַח

memulach

to salt

This is a rare root, separate from the common word for salt (melach). The verb in this sense appears only here. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'be torn in pieces, dispersed, dissipated'.

Appears 5 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to salt, season

1a) (Qal) to salt, season

1b) (Pual) to be salted

1c) (Hophal) to be rubbed or washed with salt

Aramaic equivalent: me.lach (מְלַח "to eat salt" H4415)

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 Isaiah 51:6

Range of meaning

This is a rare root, separate from the common word for salt (melach). The verb in this sense appears only here. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'be torn in pieces, dispersed, dissipated'. The best clue is the related noun melachim, 'rags, worn-out clothes' (Jer 38:11–12, where Jeremiah is pulled from the cistern with 'worn-out rags').

Against the English

'Vanish (away)' (KJV, WEB, BSB, NIV) is a fair rendering of the result, but it loses the picture of fraying and shredding. 'Disperse' or 'be torn to shreds' sits closer to the root.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb occurs only here. Its likely relative melachim is in Jer 38:11–12. The Greek Septuagint translators seem not to have recognised the word: they render it estereōthē, 'was made firm', which almost reverses the sense. Ancient translators also had trouble with it.

From the study of Ezekiel 16:4

Range of meaning

'To salt'. It is used of seasoning food and offerings (Leviticus 2:13, 'season every grain offering with salt') and here of rubbing a newborn with salt. It is related to מֶלַח, 'salt'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'salted' makes modern readers think of preserving meat or seasoning food. BSB/NIV 'rubbed with salt' describes the actual practice.

How it drifted

The custom died out in the West, so the bare word 'salted' now sounds bizarre or culinary.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rubbing newborns with salt (sometimes mixed with oil or water) is recorded in ancient medical writers. Galen and Soranus recommend sprinkling the newborn with fine salt to firm and clean the skin. Early 20th-century ethnographers (e.g. G. Dalman, H. Granqvist) observed the same custom among Palestinian Arab villagers. Greenberg and Block both cite this evidence. Some later sources also give salt a protective meaning against harm or evil, but whether that applies in Ezekiel's day is uncertain.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 30:35 מְמֻלָּ֖ח salted

    and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy.

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 2:13 תִּמְלָח֒ you will salt

    And you shall season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offering; you are to add salt to each of your offerings.

    Here: "You shall salt [it]." The verb comes from the same root as the noun, so the line literally says "with the salt you shall salt". The repetition stresses the point. The form is a binding instruction, not an option.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 51:6 נִמְלָ֙חוּ֙ they will be dispersed

    Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

    Here: A rare verb, used only here in this sense. It is probably related to melachim, 'rags, worn-out clothes' (Jer 38:11–12), so the sense is 'shredded, frayed apart, dissipated'. The heavens come apart like smoke drifting into nothing. Grammatically it is a completed-action form, which here presents the future as already certain.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 16:4 וְהָמְלֵ֙חַ֙ הֻמְלַ֔חַתְּ and certainly <to be salted>, you were rubbed with salt

    On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

    Here: A repeated, emphatic form of the verb. Placed before the main verb, it means roughly 'as for salting, you were not salted at all'.

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