Hebrew word · H4716

מַק

mak

decay

Decay, rottenness, and the stench that comes with it. Related to the verb māqaq, 'to rot, fester, waste away' (Lev 26:39; Zech 14:12; Ps 38:5 of festering wounds).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

decay, rottenness

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 3:24

Range of meaning

Decay, rottenness, and the stench that comes with it. Related to the verb māqaq, 'to rot, fester, waste away' (Lev 26:39; Zech 14:12; Ps 38:5 of festering wounds).

Against the English

BSB/KJV 'stench/stink' give the smell. WEB 'rottenness' keeps the cause. The Hebrew carries both: a smell that comes from flesh or matter decaying.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 5:24: 'their root will be like rottenness'. The verb is used of bodies wasting under siege and plague (Zech 14:12). The Septuagint here has koniortos, 'dust', which is either a different reading or a free rendering.

From the study of Isaiah 5:24

Range of meaning

Rot, decay, putrefaction, with the stench that goes with it. Related to the verb māqaq, 'to rot, fester, waste away' (Lev 26:39; Zech 14:12; Ps 38:5).

Against the English

KJV/WEB/ESV 'rottenness' and BSB 'decay' are accurate. The Hebrew carries the smell as well as the decay.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun occurs only here and Isa 3:24 ('instead of perfume there will be rot'). The verb is used in Lev 26:39 for the covenant curse of 'rotting away' in enemy lands.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 3:24 מַ֣ק rottenness

    Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

    Here: The smell of something rotting: festering wounds, unwashed bodies, corpses. Elsewhere only in Isa 5:24. The perfumed body becomes a decaying one.

  2. Isaiah 5:24 כַּמָּ֣ק like <the> rottenness

    Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

    Here: Rottenness, the soft, stinking decay of rotting matter. The only other use is Isa 3:24, where the perfume of Jerusalem's elite women turns to 'rot'. It rhymes with kā'ābāq ('like dust') below.

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