Hebrew word · H4529

מָסָה

'amseh

to liquefy

To melt or dissolve. It is closely related to māsas, 'to melt', which is often used of hearts melting in fear. In the causative it means to make something melt, dissolve or waste away.

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

What it means

1) to melt, dissolve, be liquefied

1a) (Hiphil)

1a1) to melt, cause to dissolve, consume, cause to vanish

1a2) to intimidate (fig)

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 Psalm 6:6

Range of meaning

To melt or dissolve. It is closely related to māsas, 'to melt', which is often used of hearts melting in fear. In the causative it means to make something melt, dissolve or waste away.

Against the English

KJV 'water', BSB and WEB 'drench', ESV 'drench'. These all keep the wetness but lose the dissolving. NASB 'dissolve' and YLT 'waste' are closer to the verb itself.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josh 14:8, 'my brothers made the heart of the people melt'. Ps 39:11, 'you consume like a moth what is dear to him' (God's discipline wasting a person away). Ps 147:18, God sends his word 'and melts them' (ice and snow).

From the study of Psalm 147:18

Range of meaning

To melt, dissolve or make liquid. It is a rare verb, used physically and figuratively. Joshua 14:8 uses it of scouts who 'made the people's heart melt' with fear. In Psalm 6:6 (6:7 in Hebrew) the psalmist drenches his bed with tears, and in Psalm 39:11 (39:12 in Hebrew) God dissolves what a person treasures, as a moth does.

Against the English

'Melt' is exact here, and all the major versions agree. The NLT turns the object into 'it all', which correctly tells the reader that the winter precipitation is meant.

How it drifted

The English word has not drifted. The risk comes from quoting the verse alone, because 'melts them' can then be heard as melting people or hearts, a figure the verb can carry elsewhere but does not carry here.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint uses tēkō, 'to melt', and the Vulgate liquefacio, both physical words. A closely related Hebrew root, masas, is common for wax melting and for hearts failing.

Where it appears

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 14:8 הִמְסִ֖יו they melted

    Although my brothers who went with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, I remained loyal to the LORD my God.

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 6:6 אַמְסֶֽה׃ I melt

    I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

    Here: 'I make [it] melt / I dissolve [it].' This is stronger than 'drench'. The image is a couch soaked until it seems to be dissolving. The same causative verb is used for making a heart 'melt' with fear (Josh 14:8).

  2. Psalm 39:11 וַתֶּ֣מֶס and you have melted

    You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

    Here: "And you made melt away." A picture of something solid slowly dissolving or wasting. The form continues the first verb: discipline comes, and as a result the thing a person treasures dissolves.

  3. Psalm 147:18 וְיַמְסֵ֑ם and he melts them

    He sends forth His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow.

    Here: 'And he melts them.' The 'them' points back to the snow, frost and hail of verses 16-17. Because 'word' is masculine in Hebrew, the grammar also allows 'and it melts them', with the word itself doing the melting.

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