מִרְמָה

Genesis 27:35 בְּמִרְמָ֑ה with deceit

But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Genesis 34:13 בְּמִרְמָ֖ה with deceit

But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.

2 Kings 9:23 מִרְמָ֥ה treachery

Joram turned around and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”

Job 15:35 מִרְמָֽה׃ ס deceit

They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

Here: The final word of Eliphaz's whole speech: a betraying falseness meant to trap others. The paragraph mark (ס) after it in the Hebrew manuscripts closes the section. It is not a word.

Job 31:5 מִרְמָ֣ה deceit

If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

Psalm 5:6 וּמִרְמָ֗ה and deceit

You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

Here: 'And deceit': calculated trickery and betrayal, the word used for rigged scales. Joined to 'bloods', it describes one person who is both violent and two-faced.

Psalm 10:7 וּמִרְמ֣וֹת and deceit<s>

His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

Here: 'And deceits.' The plural points to many separate tricks and lies. The word covers cheating in trade (false scales, Amos 8:5; Proverbs 11:1) as well as betrayal.

Psalm 17:1 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

A prayer of David. Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer—it comes from lips free of deceit.

Here: Deceit or trickery. The same word describes rigged merchants' scales. The speaker swears that his appeal is not a con, a pretence or a false statement.

Psalm 24:4 לְמִרְמָֽה׃ to deceit

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.

Here: "For deceit": an oath sworn to cheat someone, or with no intention of keeping it. The word is used of rigged scales ("scales of deceit", Hosea 12:7; Proverbs 11:1), so it carries a sense of fraud for gain.

Psalm 34:13 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

Here: 'Deceit.' This is the word for deliberate deception used to gain an advantage over someone: rigged scales, a trick, a betrayal. It names the particular evil that the second line singles out.

Psalm 35:20 מִ֝רְמוֹת deceit<s>

For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.

Psalm 36:3 וּמִרְמָ֑ה and deceit

The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.

Here: "And deceit": treachery, the kind of trick used in rigged scales and ambushes. Taken with 'aven, his words both harm people and mislead them.

Psalm 38:12 וּ֝מִרְמ֗וֹת and deceit<s>

Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

Here: 'And deceits', plural: one trick after another. Mirmah is used of false scales in trade and of betrayal. It means lying meant to entrap.

Psalm 43:1 מִרְמָ֖ה deceit

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

Here: "Deceit." This is the word used for rigged scales (Prov 11:1) and for treachery. A "man of deceit" is someone whose dealings are crooked by habit, which matters a great deal in a legal dispute.

Psalm 50:19 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.

Psalm 52:4 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

You love every word that devours, O deceitful tongue.

Psalm 55:11 וּמִרְמָֽה׃ and deceit

Destruction is within; oppression and deceit never leave the streets.

Psalm 55:23 וּ֭מִרְמָה and deceit

But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

Here: Deliberate deception and treachery. In this psalm it points straight at the former friend whose speech was 'smoother than butter' while war was in his heart (vv. 12–14, 20–21; deceit is also in the city streets in v. 11).

Psalm 109:2 מִ֭רְמָה deceit

For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues.

Here: 'Deceit', in the sense of scheming fraud. This is the same word used for rigged scales and for Jacob's trick on Isaac. Here the mouth is a mouth made of fraud.

Proverbs 11:1 מִ֭רְמָה deceit

Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.

Here: The scales are described by what they do: they deceive. These are scales rigged or used to cheat, and the phrase 'scales of deceit' is exactly what the prophets use for merchants cheating the poor (Hosea 12:7; Amos 8:5).

Proverbs 12:5 מִרְמָֽה׃ [are] deceit

The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit.

Here: Deliberate deception, especially to cheat someone. It is the word behind 'false scales' (literally 'scales of deceit', Prov 11:1). Again a bare noun: their steering *is* fraud.

Proverbs 12:17 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

He who speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

Here: The line ends with this one word and no verb: "a lying witness: deceit." What he produces, and what he is, is fraud. It is the same word as the rigged "dishonest scales" of Prov 11:1, deception used to cheat someone.

Proverbs 12:20 מִ֭רְמָה deceit

Deceit is in the hearts of those who devise evil, but the counselors of peace have joy.

Here: Deliberate deception meant to trap or betray someone, the word used for Jacob stealing Esau's blessing and for rigged merchant scales. It comes first for emphasis: deceit is what fills these people.

Proverbs 14:8 מִרְמָֽה׃ [is] deceit

The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them.

Here: "Deceit" closes the verse as the definition of folly. The Hebrew does not say who is deceived. It may be the fools themselves, other people, or both, and that is the main question of interpretation.

Proverbs 14:25 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

A truthful witness saves lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.

Proverbs 20:23 מִרְמָ֣ה deceit

Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.

Here: Not an honest mistake but deliberate trickery. A beam rigged off-center, or pans of unequal weight, so that the scale itself lies.

Proverbs 26:24 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

Here: "Deceit": deliberate trickery meant to take advantage of someone. Proverbs uses the same word for rigged merchant's scales (11:1; 20:23). The word is held back to the end, so it lands as the reveal.

Isaiah 53:9 מִרְמָ֖ה deceit

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Here: Deliberate deception meant to harm or cheat, like the 'false scales' (moznei mirmah) of the marketplace or a lying witness. It is more than a careless untruth.

Jeremiah 5:27 מִרְמָ֑ה deceit

Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

Jeremiah 9:6 מִרְמָ֑ה בְּמִרְמָ֛ה deceit, on deceit

You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

Here: Deceit that works as a trap: rigged scales, false dealing, betrayal of someone who trusted you. The word ends the first half of the line.

Jeremiah 9:8 מִרְמָ֣ה deceit

Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.

Here: Deliberate fraud meant to take advantage of someone. The same word is used for Jacob's trick on Esau (Gen 27:35) and for rigged merchant scales. It echoes verse 4's 'every brother is a Jacob-ing supplanter'.

Daniel 8:25 מִרְמָה֙ deceit

Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.

Here: Deliberate deception and betrayal. It is the word used for false scales (Prov 11:1) and for Jacob's trick on Isaac (Gen 27:35). This is the tool his shrewdness works with.

Daniel 11:23 מִרְמָ֑ה deceit

After an alliance is made with him, he will act deceitfully; for he will rise to power with only a few people.

Hosea 11:12 וּבְמִרְמָ֖ה and with deceit

Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

Here: 'And with deceit.' This is the word used in Genesis 27:35 for Jacob tricking Isaac ('your brother came with deceit'). It prepares for Hosea 12, which retells Jacob's story and accuses Ephraim of 'scales of mirmah' (12:7, Heb. 12:8).

Hosea 12:7 מִרְמָ֖ה deceit

A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

Here: 'Scales of deceit' means rigged scales. This is the same word used for Jacob's trick on Esau in Genesis 27:35, and Hosea has just used it of Ephraim in 12:1 (Eng. 11:12). The chapter keeps comparing the nation to the scheming ancestor Jacob.

Amos 8:5 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

Here: 'Scales of deceit': scales that lie, built or handled to cheat. This exact phrase is condemned in Hosea 12:7 and Proverbs 11:1 as something the LORD detests.

Micah 6:11 מִרְמָֽה׃ deceit

Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

Zephaniah 1:9 וּמִרְמָֽה׃ ס and deceit

On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.