Hebrew word · H4860

מַשָּׁאוֹן

bemasha'on

guile

Guile, deception, dissimulation. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. It is usually derived from the root nashaʾ II, "to deceive, beguile" (hiphil hiššîʾ: Gen 3:13 "the serpent deceived me"; 2 Kgs 18:29 "do not let Hezekiah deceive you"; Jer 29:8).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

guile, dissimulation, deceit

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 Proverbs 26:26

Range of meaning

Guile, deception, dissimulation. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. It is usually derived from the root nashaʾ II, "to deceive, beguile" (hiphil hiššîʾ: Gen 3:13 "the serpent deceived me"; 2 Kgs 18:29 "do not let Hezekiah deceive you"; Jer 29:8).

Against the English

"Deceit" (KJV, YLT), "deception" (BSB, WEB), "trickery" (NLT, as best recalled). All are fair. Because the word occurs only once, every rendering depends on etymology.

Used elsewhere in the period

Standard lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give "guile / deception" and link it to nashaʾ II. A similar-looking noun, mashshuʾot ("ruins," Ps 73:18; 74:3), probably comes from a different root (shaʾah, "to crash, lie waste"). A small minority of interpreters have looked at that connection, but it has not won acceptance.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 26:26 בְּמַשָּׁא֑וֹן with deception

    Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

    Here: "With / by means of deceit." The word occurs only here in the Bible. It most likely comes from the verb used when the serpent "deceived" Eve (Gen 3:13), so it means deliberate misleading. The deceit is the cover the hatred hides under.

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