Hebrew word · H4759

מַרְאָה

bamar'ah

vision

Mar'ah means a vision or visionary appearance. Elohim can mean 'God' or work like an adjective ('divine, God-given'). The phrase means 'divine visions,' visions given by God.

Appears 12 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) vision

1a) mode of revelation

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 Ezekiel 8:3

Range of meaning

Mar'ah means a vision or visionary appearance. Elohim can mean 'God' or work like an adjective ('divine, God-given'). The phrase means 'divine visions,' visions given by God.

Against the English

'Visions of God' (all major versions) can be read as 'visions in which God is seen.' The phrase mainly means visions sent by God.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears only in Ezekiel: 1:1, 8:3, 40:2. In 11:24 the ruach brings him back to the exiles 'in the vision, by the ruach of God,' and 'the vision I had seen went up from me.'

From the study of Ezekiel 40:2

Range of meaning

Mar'ah is a feminine noun from ra'ah, "to see". It means a vision: something seen in a God-given altered state, often at night or in a trance. It is distinct from the related masculine noun mar'eh, "appearance, sight", which Ezekiel uses in verse 3 for the man "whose appearance was like bronze". A separate homonym, mar'ah (H4759B), means "mirror" (Exodus 38:8).

Against the English

All the supplied versions say "visions of God". The English "of" is ambiguous, just like the Hebrew: visions from God, visions about God, or divine visions. NLT-style "a vision from God" settles one sense.

How it drifted

In modern English "vision" often means a plan or goal ("a vision for the church") or simply imagination. Here it means an experience of being shown something by God while in a seized, trance-like state ("the hand of the LORD was upon me", 40:1).

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 46:2 ("visions of the night"); Numbers 12:6 ("in a vision I make myself known"); 1 Samuel 3:15; Daniel 10:7–8, 16. The exact phrase mar'ot 'elohim occurs only in Ezekiel: 1:1, 8:3 and 40:2. The Septuagint uses ὅρασις θεοῦ, "vision of God".

From the study of Ezekiel 1:1

Range of meaning

Mar'ah (feminine) is from ra'ah, "to see." It means a sight shown to someone, a vision, often of a revelatory kind (Gen 46:2, "visions of the night"; Num 12:6, "in a vision I make myself known"; Dan 10:7–8). The same form also means "mirror" (Exod 38:8). Grammatically, mar'ot Elohim can mean "visions from God," "visions of God," or "divine visions."

Against the English

All the major English versions say "visions of God." That is accurate, but it can sound as if Ezekiel saw God directly.

How it drifted

In modern English "vision" leans toward the inner and subjective (an imagined picture, a dream, a hallucination, a plan for the future). In Hebrew a mar'ah is something shown, which the seer reports as having seen, though not with ordinary eyesight. "Of God" can also be heard as "I saw God himself," which Ezekiel takes care not to claim.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel uses the exact phrase three times, at the start of his three great vision sequences: 1:1; 8:3 (taken in visions of God to Jerusalem); 40:2 (taken in visions of God to the land of Israel). The plural also appears in Gen 46:2 and Dan 10. Ezekiel's other seeing words mar'eh ("appearance") and demut ("likeness") fill the chapter.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 46:2 בְּמַרְאֹ֣ת in [the] visions of

    And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob.

    Here: A plural word from the verb 'to see'. It names a revelation received at night. The plural is an idiom for that kind of experience (compare Ezekiel's 'visions of God'). It does not mean several separate visions. What follows is entirely speech.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 38:8 בְּמַרְאֹת֙ with [the] mirrors of

    Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

    Here: The prefix bə- here names the material, 'out of'. The noun comes from the verb 'to see' and means 'mirror': in that world, a hand-held disc of polished bronze or copper. This is the only verse where the source of the metal is named, so it is the verse's notable detail.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 12:6 בַּמַּרְאָה֙ by <the> vision

    He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.

    Here: 'In the vision': something seen in a revelatory state, not ordinary eyesight. It sets up a pun with v.8, where Moses sees YHWH 'plainly' (marʾeh, from the same root).

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 3:15 הַמַּרְאָ֖ה the vision

    Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision,

Ezekiel · 4

  1. Ezekiel 1:1 מַרְא֥וֹת visions of

    In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.

    Here: Plural, "visions of": things shown to the seer. It comes from the same root as "saw," so it means literally "I saw sights."

  2. Ezekiel 8:3 בְּמַרְא֣וֹת in visions of

    He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.

    Here: 'In visions of.' This marks the whole journey as visionary experience. It is the same phrase that opens the book (1:1) and closes the later temple vision (40:2).

  3. Ezekiel 40:2 בְּמַרְא֣וֹת in visions of

    In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.

    Here: "In visions": the plural names the state of visionary experience, not a series of separate pictures. It is the same opening formula as Ezekiel 1:1 and 8:3. It tells the reader that what follows is seen in a vision. Ezekiel's body stays in Babylon.

  4. Ezekiel 43:3 וּמַרְא֕וֹת and visions

    The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,

    Here: A plural, related noun. It echoes Ezekiel's phrase 'visions of God' (1:1; 8:3; 40:2), his term for a vision granted by God.

Daniel · 4

  1. Daniel 10:7 הַמַּרְאָ֔ה הַמַּרְאָ֑ה the vision

    Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.

    Here: A noun from the verb 'to see': the appearance that was shown. Here it means the radiant figure of 10:5–6 that Daniel saw while fully awake on the riverbank.

  2. Daniel 10:8 הַמַּרְאָ֤ה the vision

    So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.

    Here: 'The sight' or 'the appearance': here, the dazzling man in linen described in verses 5–6. It is something seen, not an abstract idea or plan.

  3. Daniel 10:16 בַּמַּרְאָה֙ on the vision

    And suddenly one with the likeness of a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and said to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision, I am overcome with anguish, and I have no strength.

    Here: “Because of the vision.” Here the preposition gives the cause. The vision is the sight of vv. 5–8, which had already drained Daniel's strength.

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