Properly, deputyship , i.e. ministry ; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
מְלָאכָה (melakah) names work, an assigned task, an occupation, or the product of skilled labor. Genesis 2 uses it for the work God completed in creation, Genesis 39:11 uses it for Joseph's work, and Proverbs 22:29 speaks of a person skilled in his work.
Reader summary
Full entry for מְלָאכָה (H4399) · Open the biblical lexicon
מְלָאכָה (melakah) names work, an assigned task, an occupation, or the product of skilled labor. Genesis 2 uses it for the work God completed in creation, Genesis 39:11 uses it for Joseph's work, and Proverbs 22:29 speaks of a person skilled in his work.
The BSB source-word alignment has 167 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the work (37), . . . (23), work (20), regular work (10), any work (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (33), Nehemiah (22), 1 Chronicles (20), 2 Chronicles (16).
מְלָאכָה (melakah) names work, an assigned task, an occupation, or the product of skilled labor. Genesis 2 uses it for the work God completed in creation, Genesis 39:11 uses it for Joseph's work, and Proverbs 22:29 speaks of a person skilled in his work. The noun is broad enough for ordinary labor, public duty, craftsmanship, and organized service.
The Sabbath commands use melakah when they prohibit work on the seventh day. That prohibition stands beside the command to labor during the other six days and is grounded in God's creation pattern. The noun itself does not provide a complete later definition of every prohibited Sabbath activity; those questions require the command's covenant setting and the wider legal material.
Exodus 31 gives melakah a particularly rich setting when God equips Bezalel with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill for tabernacle work. The passage dignifies skilled making as Spirit-enabled service without implying that every human project is divinely commissioned or that craftsmanship makes its worker spiritually superior.
Melakah moves from completed creation work to human occupations, Sabbath boundaries, skilled sanctuary construction, and communal projects. Its range connects work and rest while leaving the moral evaluation of a task to its purpose and context.
God completes his creation work and rests on the seventh day.
Joseph enters the house to do his work, an ordinary occupational use within the narrative of temptation.
Israel is commanded to labor for six days before the Sabbath prohibition on work.
Bezalel is equipped by God's Spirit with wisdom and skill for the tabernacle work.
The returned community continues the rebuilding work while maintaining protection amid opposition.
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. properly, deputyship , i.e. ministry ; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)
properly, deputyship, i.e. ministry; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor) BDB: occupation Usage: business, cattle, industrious, occupation, ( -pied), officer, thing (made), use, (manner of) work((-man), -manship).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
מְלָאכָה 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.
Melakah helps a congregation hold work and rest together without treating either as an idol. Genesis 2 portrays completed divine work followed by rest; Exodus commands six days of labor and a seventh-day cessation; the tabernacle chapters honor detailed, collaborative craftsmanship supplied by God-given wisdom. These texts dignify ordinary and skilled labor while also placing boundaries around it.
A sermon can ask what task has actually been entrusted, whom it serves, and whether it is pursued faithfully, rather than baptizing ambition with the language of calling. Bezalel's commission is especially valuable because artistic and technical work matters within Israel's worship, yet the narrative remains a specific covenant assignment. It cannot prove that every career preference or successful project is Spirit-directed.
Melakah encourages grateful skill, accountable service, shared effort, and obedient rest.
Exod.31.3
Melakah can name an activity, responsibility, occupation, or crafted result. The context must supply whether the work is ordinary, cultic, royal, communal, permitted, or prohibited.
New Testament exhortations concerning diligent work, service to the Lord, and rest can be compared thematically. Those connections should not erase the Mosaic covenant setting of the Sabbath and tabernacle passages.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain