Hebrew word · H8591

תָּעַע

kimta'tea'

to mock

A doubled root (t-'-'), found in the Bible only here and at Gen 27:12. There Jacob fears that if his blind father touches him, 'I shall seem to him as one who is tricking him' (kimta'tea'). The range runs from 'make a fool of' and 'mock' to 'trick, trifle with, deceive'.

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

What it means

1) to deceive, misuse

1a) (Pilpel)

1a1) to be a mocker, mock

1a2) mocker (subst)

1b) (Hithpalpel)

1b1) to ridicule

1b2) mocking (participle)

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 2 Chronicles 36:16

Range of meaning

A doubled root (t-'-'), found in the Bible only here and at Gen 27:12. There Jacob fears that if his blind father touches him, 'I shall seem to him as one who is tricking him' (kimta'tea'). The range runs from 'make a fool of' and 'mock' to 'trick, trifle with, deceive'. In both places it means treating someone as a dupe.

Against the English

BSB and WEB have 'scoffing at', ESV and NIV 'scoffed at': the mockery side. KJV's 'misused' points to ill-treatment. YLT's 'acting deceitfully with' points to the trickery side, following Gen 27:12.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 27:12 is the only other use. BDB and HALOT both give 'mock' as the main sense, and HALOT gives this form the sense 'to mock at'. Medieval Jewish commentators and YLT linked it to deceit because of the Jacob story.

From the study of Genesis 27:12

Range of meaning

The root is rare. In its doubled form (the Hebrew repeats a syllable, ta'-te'a) it means to mock, trifle with, make a fool or dupe of someone. Related words: the reflexive form in 2 Chronicles 36:16 ('they kept mocking his prophets'), and the noun taʿtuʿim in Jeremiah 10:15 and 51:18, where idols are 'a work of delusion/mockery', meaning worthless trickery that fools people. So the word family covers both mockery and deception, but the focus is on making a fool of someone, not just saying something untrue.

Against the English

KJV, NASB, WEB and BSB say 'deceiver'. ESV has 'mocking him', NIV and NLT 'tricking/trick'. 'Deceiver' is defensible, because the related noun covers delusion. But it moves the focus to truth-telling. The Hebrew points to the insult: a son playing games with a blind father.

How it drifted

English 'deceiver' has become a moral label for a liar, and Jacob is known in Christian retelling as 'the deceiver'. So readers tend to hear an admission of guilt about lying. The narrator saves the actual deceit-word, mirmah ('with cunning/deceit', v. 35), for Isaac's later verdict.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew Bible: Gen 27:12 (the form here), 2 Chr 36:16 (mocking prophets), the related noun in Jer 10:15; 51:18. The Septuagint translates hōs kataphronōn, 'as one who despises/disdains [him]', and the Vulgate uses a verb of mocking. Both ancient translators read the word as disrespect, not simply falsehood.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 27:12 כִּמְתַעְתֵּ֑עַ like a mocker

    What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

    Here: 'Like one making a fool of [him]', someone toying with or playing a trick on a person. The word stresses the insult of treating his father as a dupe, more than lying in the abstract.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 36:16 וּמִֽתַּעְתְּעִ֖ים and mocking

    But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

    Here: A rare verb whose only other use is Gen 27:12, where Jacob fears he will look like someone tricking his blind father. Here it means making fools of the prophets: toying with them, deriding them, perhaps deceiving them.

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