מָא
ma
what
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word "Ma" (מָא): Biblical Hebrew's Essential Question Word The Hebrew word "ma" is one of the most frequently used words in the Bible, appearing 753 times. Its fundamental meaning is "what," functioning as the primary interrogative particle for asking questions about things, actions, and circumstances. This simple form serves as the linguistic foundation for inquiry throughout biblical texts, enabling speakers to seek clarification, understanding, or information about objects, events, and abstract concepts. The high frequency of this word—over 750 occurrences—reflects its central role in biblical communication. Nearly every major narrative, dialogue, and poetic section relies on "ma" to express human curiosity, divine inquiry, and rhetorical questioning. Whether used in direct questions ("What is this?"), rhetorical devices, or expressions of confusion and wonder, "ma" functioned as Hebrew's primary mechanism for moving discourse forward through the interrogative mode. Its ubiquity demonstrates that questioning itself was a fundamental feature of biblical expression, from everyday dialogue to profound theological moments. While the provided data offers only the basic definition and occurrence count, these two pieces of information establish that "ma" was indispensable to biblical Hebrew communication. Its prevalence suggests that asking questions—seeking understanding about the world, about God's will, and about human experience—was woven throughout the entire biblical tradition rather than marginal to it.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
753 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
2 Chronicles 24:20The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you disobey Yahweh’s commandments, so that you can’t prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, he has also forsaken you.’ ”
2 Chronicles 25:9Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than this.”
2 Chronicles 25:15Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought after the gods of the people, which have not delivered their own people out of your hand?”
2 Chronicles 25:16As he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king’s counselors? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped, and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this, and have not listened to my counsel.”
2 Chronicles 25:19You say to yourself that you have struck Edom; and your heart lifts you up to boast. Now stay at home. Why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you?’ ”
2 Chronicles 30:3For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 32:4So, many people gathered together and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the middle of the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find abundant water?”
2 Chronicles 32:10Sennacherib king of Assyria says, “In whom do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem?
2 Chronicles 32:13Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand?
2 Chronicles 35:21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you today, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is God who is with me, that he not destroy you.”
Genesis 31:36Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. Jacob answered Laban, “What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?
Ezra 9:10“Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,
Nehemiah 2:4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 2:12I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.
Nehemiah 2:16The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.
Nehemiah 2:19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”
Nehemiah 4:2He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?”
Nehemiah 6:3I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?”
Nehemiah 13:17Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day?
Esther 1:15“What shall we do to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of the King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs?”
Esther 2:11Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.
Esther 4:5Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.
Esther 4:5Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.
Esther 5:3Then the king asked her, “What would you like, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom.”
Esther 5:3Then the king asked her, “What would you like, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom.”
Esther 5:6The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
Esther 5:6The king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
Esther 6:3The king said, “What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
Esther 6:6So Haman came in. The king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman said in his heart, “Who would the king delight to honor more than myself?”
Esther 7:2The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
Esther 7:2The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
Esther 8:1On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.
Esther 9:12The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
Esther 9:12The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
Esther 9:12The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
Esther 9:26Therefore they called these days “Purim”, from the word “Pur.” Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them,
Esther 9:26Therefore they called these days “Purim”, from the word “Pur.” Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them,
Job 3:11“Why didn’t I die from the womb? Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?
Job 3:12Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should nurse?
Job 3:20“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
Job 6:11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
Job 6:11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
Job 6:24“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error.
Job 6:25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
Job 6:25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
Job 7:17What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,
Job 7:19How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
Job 7:20If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?