Hebrew word · H4537

מָסַךְ

masakh

to mix

To mix or blend a drink. Related nouns: mesek, 'mixture, mixed wine' (Ps 75:8 [Heb 75:9]), and mimsāk, 'mixed wine' (Prov 23:30; Isa 65:11).

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

1) to mix, mingle, produce by mixing

1a) (Qal) to pour, mix

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: To mix or blend a drink. Related nouns: mesek, 'mixture, mixed wine' (Ps 75:8 [Heb 75:9]), and mimsāk, 'mixed wine' (Prov 23:30; Isa 65:11).
Against the English: KJV/YLT 'mingle' is archaic but literal. Modern 'mixing' can call up a cocktail bar. NIV's 'mixing drinks' is fair. NLT drops the mixing image and paraphrases it as boasting about how much alcohol they can hold.
Used elsewhere in the period: Prov 9:2, 5: Lady Wisdom 'has mixed her wine' for her banquet. Prov 23:30: drunkards 'go to try mixed wine'. Ps 102:9: 'I mix my drink with weeping'. Isa 19:14: YHWH 'has mixed' a spirit of confusion into Egypt. Song 8:2 mentions 'spiced wine'. Greek practice was to dilute wine with water. Biblical usage more often seems to mean enriching it with spices.

Range of meaning: To mix or blend a drink, especially wine mixed with spices, herbs or other additives to make it stronger or tastier. Related nouns: mesekh, "mixed wine" (Ps 75:8 [Hebrew 75:9]), and mimsākh, "mixed drink" (Prov 23:30; Isa 65:11).
Against the English: KJV, YLT and ESV say "mingled"; WEB and NASB say "mixed," which keeps the drink picture. BSB and NIV say "poured," which still suggests a drink but loses the idea that the cup has been made strong on purpose.
Used elsewhere in the period: Wisdom's banquet: she "mixed her wine" (Prov 9:2, 5). Isaiah mocks those "valiant at mixing strong drink" (Isa 5:22). The psalmist "mixed my drink with weeping" (Ps 102:9). Yahweh's cup of foaming wine "full of mixture" that the wicked drain (Ps 75:8) belongs to the wider "cup of wrath" theme (Jer 25:15–28; Isa 51:17–22). The Greek Septuagint uses ekerasen, the ordinary Greek word for mixing wine.

Range of meaning: To mix or blend a drink, especially wine. Related nouns: mesekh, 'mixture, mixed wine' (Ps 75:8), and mimsākh, 'mixed wine' (Prov 23:30; Isa 65:11).
Against the English: Most versions say 'mixed her wine.' KJV's 'mingled' is the same idea in older English. None of them says what was mixed in, and that is a fair choice, because the Hebrew doesn't say either.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the Hebrew Bible, mixing most often makes a drink richer or stronger. Isa 5:22 mocks men who are 'champions at mixing strong drink.' Prov 23:30 warns about those who go looking for 'mixed wine.' Song 8:2 mentions spiced wine. Ps 75:8 speaks of a cup 'full of mixture.' Greek custom diluted wine with water in a mixing bowl (kratēr), and the LXX renders this line 'she mixed her wine in a mixing bowl' (ἐκέρασεν εἰς κρατῆρα). Isa 1:22 condemns wine 'cut with water' (mahûl, a different word) as spoiled.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 102:9 מָסָֽכְתִּי׃ I have mixed

For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears

Here: 'I have mixed.' This is the usual verb for mixing wine with spices or water to prepare it for drinking. Instead of mixing his wine, he mixes his drink with weeping. Like 'I have eaten', it closes its line, and the two verbs rhyme (-tî … -tî).

Proverbs · 2

Proverbs 9:2 מָסְכָ֣ה she has mixed

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

Here: Wine was 'mixed' to make it ready to serve. Most likely this means blending in spices, or possibly cutting it with water. Either way the wine has been prepared, and she did it herself.
Proverbs 9:5 מָסָֽכְתִּי׃ [which] I have mixed

“Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.

Here: 'I have mixed': the host's own job of preparing the wine, probably by blending in spices, possibly by diluting it. The verb form shows finished action, so the wine is already prepared and waiting. Hebrew poetry can drop the word 'which,' and it does so here.

Isaiah · 2

Isaiah 5:22 לִמְסֹ֥ךְ for mixing

Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink,

Here: 'At mixing.' To blend a drink, most likely by adding spices or other ingredients to make it stronger or richer. It suggests both the skill of preparing potent drinks and their constant pouring and refilling.
Isaiah 19:14 מָסַ֥ךְ he has mixed

The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

Here: A drink-mixing word: blending wine with spices or other additives to make it stronger. Yahweh is pictured as the one who mixes a potent drink for Egypt, which sets up the drunkard at the end of the verse.

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