Hebrew word · H4625

מַעֲקָשׁ

uma'akashim

crooked place

maʿăqashshîm appears only here in the Bible. It comes from ʿaqash, 'to twist, be crooked' (used of perverse speech and ways in Proverbs), and means twisted, broken or rough terrain. mîshôr means level ground, a plain or tableland (it is used for the plateau of Moab, Deut 3:10).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

crooked place, twisted, crooked things

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 42:16

Range of meaning

maʿăqashshîm appears only here in the Bible. It comes from ʿaqash, 'to twist, be crooked' (used of perverse speech and ways in Proverbs), and means twisted, broken or rough terrain. mîshôr means level ground, a plain or tableland (it is used for the plateau of Moab, Deut 3:10). It can also mean 'uprightness, equity' (Ps 45:6; Mal 2:6).

Against the English

KJV 'crooked things straight' and WEB 'crooked places straight' can sound moral: making bent people or bent situations right. BSB/ESV 'rough places into level ground' keeps the terrain picture.

How it drifted

The root 'twisted' does have a moral use elsewhere, and 'crooked' in English is now mainly a moral word ('a crooked dealer'). That leads readers to moralise the line.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 40:4 uses the same contrast: 'the rough ground (he-ʿaqov) shall become level (le-mishor)'. The Greek translation gives this verse and 40:4 the same wording ('the crooked into straight'), which Luke 3:5 quotes for John the Baptist.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 42:16 וּמַֽעֲקַשִּׁים֙ and rough places

    I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

    Here: This noun appears only here in the Bible. It comes from a root meaning 'twisted, crooked'. It describes ground that is broken, winding and hard to cross, which is a real danger for a blind traveller.

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