To withdraw (both literally and figuratively, whether intransitive or transitive)
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מוּשׁ (mûsh) is a verb for departing, withdrawing, moving, ceasing, or causing something to move away. Many notable occurrences are negated, but the lexical meaning remains departure or removal; permanence comes from the negative construction and the surrounding promise or description.
Reader summary
Full entry for מוּשׁ (H4185) · Open the biblical lexicon
מוּשׁ (mûsh) is a verb for departing, withdrawing, moving, ceasing, or causing something to move away. Many notable occurrences are negated, but the lexical meaning remains departure or removal; permanence comes from the negative construction and the surrounding promise or description.
The BSB source-word alignment has 20 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include depart (3), leave (3), departed (2), [nor] does it cease (1), and I will remove (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 13:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (5), Exodus (2), Jeremiah (2), Micah (2).
מוּשׁ (mûsh) is a verb for departing, withdrawing, moving, ceasing, or causing something to move away. Many notable occurrences are negated, but the lexical meaning remains departure or removal; permanence comes from the negative construction and the surrounding promise or description.
Exodus 13:22 says that the cloud and fire did not depart from before the people at that stage of the journey. Joshua 1:8 commands that the book of the law not depart from Joshua's mouth. The shared verb permits comparison, but the text does not say that the book replaced the pillar or that every negated occurrence establishes the same covenant doctrine.
Isaiah 54:10 twice uses H4185: the mountains may depart, but the Lord's steadfast love will not depart from restored Zion. The comparison gives strong assurance within the chapter's restoration oracle. It does not promise exemption from hardship, and the verse's even-if comparison should not be turned into a claim that mountains cannot move.
Isaiah 59:21 says that the Lord's words will not depart from the mouths of the addressed people and their offspring. The verse joins word, Spirit, covenant, and generations in its own prophetic setting. Pentecost, inspiration, or preservation claims require later textual warrant and are not encoded in H4185 itself.
Exodus 13:22 states that the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night did not depart from before the people. The verse describes continuing guidance in the immediate exodus setting.
H4185 is especially memorable in sentences that deny departure. Exodus 13, Joshua 1, Isaiah 54, and Isaiah 59 each use non-departure differently: visible guidance remains, instruction stays in a leader's mouth, steadfast love remains with Zion, and words remain across generations.
The broader occurrence set prevents overgeneralization. Job speaks of his own non-departure from a command; Psalm 55 describes oppression and deceit that do not depart; other texts describe objects or conditions being removed. Negation can express constancy, but constancy can characterize either blessing or evil.
Teachers can therefore use H4185 to notice the rhetoric of what does or does not move away. They should then let each passage identify whose action, which object, and what covenant or narrative setting gives that claim its force.
Selected negated occurrences contribute to biblical themes of continuing guidance, sustained instruction, steadfast love, and enduring covenant commitment. Other occurrences describe persistent evil, removal, or ordinary departure. The theology belongs to the subjects, objects, negations, and promises of each text rather than to H4185 alone.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. to withdraw (both literally and figuratively, whether intransitive or transitive)
to withdraw (both literally and figuratively, whether intransitive or transitive) BDB: depart Usage: cease, depart, go back, remove, take away.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
מוּשׁ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
It corrects claims that visible guidance was guaranteed in every form, that Torah simply replaced the pillar, or that Isaiah 59:21 directly proves later doctrines of Pentecost and written-text preservation.
Identify the thing that might depart, the negative or positive construction, and the promise or warning around it. In Isaiah 54, preach the chapter's assurance to afflicted Zion without promising absence of affliction.
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