What does מָצָא · חַי mean in the Bible?
e. e.
Hebrew · H4672, H2416
הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא ... חַיִּים
Properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present · alive ; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong ; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
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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.
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Words in this compound — expand to study each participant
מָצָא H4672 properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present
Pronunciation māṣāʾ
From existence or appearance to discovery: finding what comes forth or becomes present to the seeker.
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חַי H2416 alive ; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong ; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
Pronunciation ḥay
Life principle extending from physical vitality (raw, fresh, strong) to covenantal presence and relational aliveness with God.
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What does הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא ... חַיִּים (himmatse timmatse ... chayyim) mean in the Bible?
מָצָא · חַי is a Hebrew phrase meaning "properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present".
Full entry for הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא ... חַיִּים (H4672, H2416) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How many biblical occurrences are listed for H4672, H2416?
H4672, H2416 is connected to 960 lexical occurrence verses in the lexicon data.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew phrase. properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present
Source Gloss
properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 3 Aligned forms 256
Qal basic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense 175×
Perfect 1Kgs 21:20 · 1Sam 20:3 · 1Sam 20:29 · 1Sam 27:5 · 1Sam 29:3 · 1Sam 29:6 · 2Chr 34:15 · 2Kgs 22:8 · 2Sam 14:22 · Deut 22:14 · Deut 22:17 · Eccl 7:27 · Eccl 7:28 · Eccl 7:29 · Esth 5:8 · Esth 7:3 104×
Imperfect 1Sam 24:20 · Deut 22:25 · Deut 22:28 · Eccl 3:11 · Eccl 7:14 · Eccl 8:17 · Esth 8:6 · Gen 44:34 · Job 33:10 · Judg 17:8 · Prov 6:33 · Prov 16:20 · Prov 17:20 · Prov 20:6 · Prov 21:21 · Prov 28:23 64×
Sequential imperfect 1Sam 20:21 · 1Sam 20:36 2×
Participle active 2Sam 18:22 · Prov 8:35 2×
Jussive 1Sam 1:18 1×
Cohortative Gen 33:15 1×
Infinitive construct Ps 32:6 1×
Niphal passive or reflexive — the subject receives or experiences the action 79×
Perfect 1Kgs 14:13 · 1Sam 9:8 · 1Sam 10:21 · 1Sam 13:22 · 2Chr 34:21 · 2Kgs 20:13 · 2Sam 17:12 · 2Sam 17:13 · Dan 1:19 · Exod 35:23 · Exod 35:24 · Ezek 28:15 · Gen 44:16 · Gen 44:17 · Hos 14:9 · Isa 39:2 42×
Imperfect 1Chr 28:9 · 1Sam 13:19 · 2Chr 15:2 · 2Kgs 12:6 · Dan 11:19 · Deut 17:2 · Deut 18:10 · Deut 21:1 · Deut 21:17 · Deut 22:22 · Deut 24:7 · Exod 9:19 · Exod 12:19 · Exod 22:1 · Exod 22:6 · Exod 22:7 35×
Infinitive absolute Exod 22:3 1×
Participle active Ps 46:2 1×
Hiphil causative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action 2×
Perfect Lev 9:13 1×
Participle active Zech 11:6 1×
Word Origins
הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא ... חַיִּים is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Cross-Language Connections
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Sources
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