מָגוֹר
ma.gor
terror
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Mâgôr (מָגוֹר): Terror in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *mâgôr* denotes terror or extreme fear and appears eight times throughout the biblical text. As a noun, it represents the emotional or psychological state of profound dread rather than a specific object or event. The word captures the internal experience of overwhelming fear—the kind that grips a person when facing genuine threat or danger. With only eight occurrences in the Bible, *mâgôr* occupies a limited but focused role in biblical vocabulary. This relatively rare usage suggests the word was reserved for moments of intense emotional distress rather than everyday fear. The restraint in its application implies that biblical writers chose this particular term deliberately when describing fear of an exceptional or significant character, making each instance noteworthy for understanding how ancient Hebrew speakers conceptualized extreme dread. The significance of *mâgôr* lies in its specificity: it names a particular variety of fear, distinct from milder forms of apprehension or concern. For readers seeking to understand biblical descriptions of fear—whether in contexts of danger, divine encounter, or distress—*mâgôr* marks moments when the text intends to convey terror as an overwhelming, dominant emotional response rather than a passing concern.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
8 total occurrences across the text
For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.
Jeremiah 6:25Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.
Jeremiah 20:4For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword.
Jeremiah 20:10For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”
Jeremiah 46:5Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 49:29They will take their tents and their flocks. they will carry away for themselves their curtains, all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, ‘Terror on every side!’
Lamentations 2:22“You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.
Isaiah 31:9His rock will pass away by reason of terror, and his princes will be afraid of the banner,” says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.