Properly, something dug , i.e. a (general) source (of water, even when naturally flowing; also of tears, blood (by euphemism, of the female pudenda ); figuratively, of happiness, wisdom, progeny)
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מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring, fountain, or source from which something flows. The noun can name or picture a water source, but its biblical range also includes the source of a bodily discharge in Leviticus, marital fountain imagery in Proverbs 5, life-giving speech in Proverbs 10, and a polluted spring in Proverbs 25.
Reader summary
Full entry for מָקוֹר (H4726) · Open the biblical lexicon
מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring, fountain, or source from which something flows. The noun can name or picture a water source, but its biblical range also includes the source of a bodily discharge in Leviticus, marital fountain imagery in Proverbs 5, life-giving speech in Proverbs 10, and a polluted spring in Proverbs 25.
The BSB source-word alignment has 18 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include is a fountain (4), the fountain (3), a fountain (2), and make her springs (1), from her flow (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 12:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (7), Jeremiah (4), Leviticus (3), Psalms (2).
מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring, fountain, or source from which something flows. The noun can name or picture a water source, but its biblical range also includes the source of a bodily discharge in Leviticus, marital fountain imagery in Proverbs 5, life-giving speech in Proverbs 10, and a polluted spring in Proverbs 25. Context must identify what the source supplies and whether the image is literal or figurative.
Jeremiah 2:13 calls the Lord the fountain of living waters and contrasts him with broken cisterns that cannot hold water. The image exposes Judah's abandonment of the true source of covenant life for self-made substitutes. Jeremiah 17:13 repeats the title in a prayer and warning. These verses identify the Lord through the metaphor; they do not teach that God is literally water or that every spring reference names God.
Psalm 36:9 confesses that the fountain of life is with God, while Zechariah 13:1 promises an opened fountain for cleansing the house of David and Jerusalem from sin and impurity. John 4 and Revelation's river-of-life imagery can be brought into a wider canonical conversation, but H4726 is not present in those Greek texts and cannot by itself establish their precise fulfillment relationships.
Maqor begins with source imagery and extends naturally to anything understood as issuing, sustaining, contaminating, or cleansing. Biblical writers use that concrete picture for bodily, marital, moral, theological, and eschatological settings.
The blessed fountain appears within an exhortation to rejoice in the wife of one's youth and remain faithful.
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, contrasting life-giving speech with concealed violence.
The psalm confesses that the fountain of life is with God and joins life with seeing light in God's light.
The Lord names himself the fountain of living waters in contrast with Judah's broken cisterns.
A future opened fountain is promised for cleansing from sin and impurity within Zechariah's oracle.
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. Source of life-sustenance or blessing, from literal water-springs to figurative origins of wisdom, joy, and lineage.
Source of life-sustenance or blessing, from literal water-springs to figurative origins of wisdom, joy, and lineage.
properly, something dug, i.e. a (general) source (of water, even when naturally flowing; also of tears, blood (by euphemism, of the female pudenda); figuratively, of happiness, wisdom, progeny) BDB: spring Usage: fountain, issue, spring, well(-spring).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 18 lexical occurrence verses.
מָקוֹר is built from this root:
The metaphor portrays righteous speech as a continual source of life and refreshment. Proverbs 10:11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Maqor lets a congregation ask a searching source question: what is flowing, where does it come from, and what does it produce? Proverbs applies the fountain image to marital fidelity, speech, wisdom, reverence, and moral compromise. Jeremiah sharpens it by naming the Lord as the fountain of living waters and portraying idolatrous alternatives as cracked cisterns that cannot retain life.
Psalm 36 responds with worship, and Zechariah adds a promise of cleansing. A sermon can use these images to expose dependence and invite trust without turning metaphor into physical description or promising that spiritual faithfulness removes every earthly thirst. It should also resist vague language about being a source of positivity. The passages name concrete goods such as life-giving speech, covenant fidelity, fear of the Lord, and cleansing from sin, and they identify God as the ultimate giver.
Jer.2.13
Maqor is a source noun whose metaphorical extension depends on what is said to flow from it. It should not be confused with every Hebrew term translated well, spring, cistern, river, or water.
John 4, John 7, and Revelation 22 continue living-water themes. They are canonical parallels rather than direct Hebrew occurrences, so their Christological and pneumatological claims must come from those passages.
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