מָחָה
ma.chah
to wipe
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word "ma.chah" (H4229A) is a verb that connotes the action of wiping. Its definition as "to wipe" indicates a range of physical actions, from gently removing a surface impurity to forcefully erasing a mark or stain. This action can be applied broadly across various situations in life, from personal hygiene (e.g., washing one's face) to cleaning and maintenance (e.g., wiping down a surface). The repeated occurrence of 34 instances in the Bible underscores its significance in the culture and daily life of the authors. The word "ma.chah" may hold subtle significance in certain contexts, such as the practice of wiping the feet before entering a home (e.g., Genesis 18:4), symbolizing respect and removing the impurities of the outside world before entering a sacred or inner space. However, without access to additional contextual information, its full range of implications and applications cannot be fully determined.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
34 total occurrences across the text
Don’t cover their iniquity. Don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”
Nehemiah 13:14Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances.
Psalms 9:5You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
Psalms 51:1Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Psalms 51:9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
Psalms 69:28Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
Psalms 109:13Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Psalms 109:14Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Proverbs 6:33He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.
Proverbs 30:20“So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
Proverbs 31:3Don’t give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.
Isaiah 25:8He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it.
Isaiah 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Jeremiah 18:23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from your sight, Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.
Ezekiel 6:6In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
Genesis 6:7Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Genesis 7:4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
Genesis 7:23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
Genesis 7:23Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.
Exodus 17:14Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”
Exodus 17:14Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”
Exodus 32:32Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
Exodus 32:33Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.
Numbers 5:23“ ‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.
Deuteronomy 9:14Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
Deuteronomy 25:6It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel.
Deuteronomy 25:19Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget.
Deuteronomy 29:20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
Judges 21:17They said, “There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
2 Kings 14:27Yahweh didn’t say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under the sky; but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
2 Kings 21:13I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
2 Kings 21:13I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
2 Kings 21:13I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.