מַלְאָךְ
ma.le.akh
messenger
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Malakh (מַלְאָךְ): Messenger in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *malakh* appears 103 times throughout the Bible with a primary meaning of "messenger." This frequency indicates the concept held considerable importance in biblical literature. The word's fundamental semantic range centers on the function of conveying information or executing tasks on behalf of another party, whether that party is human or divine. The term's prevalence across the biblical text suggests it served as a flexible designator for various types of intermediaries. The basic definition—"messenger"—encompasses both ordinary human envoys sent to deliver communications and the supernatural beings commonly encountered in biblical narratives. This dual application reflects the word's core functional meaning rather than a strict categorical distinction between human and divine messengers. The 103 occurrences distributed throughout biblical literature demonstrate that the concept of mediation and message-bearing was central to biblical thought. The word's consistent definition across these varied contexts indicates that ancient Hebrew speakers understood *malakh* primarily through its functional role—that of one who carries or communicates something from a sender to a recipient—rather than through fixed categorical boundaries.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
103 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
But 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.”
2 Chronicles 36:15Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place;
2 Chronicles 36:16but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
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?”
Job 1:14that there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
Psalms 104:4He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.
Proverbs 13:17A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.
Proverbs 16:14The king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.
Proverbs 17:11An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Isaiah 14:32What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
Ecclesiastes 5:6Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
Isaiah 18:2that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”
Isaiah 30:4For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes.
Isaiah 33:7Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
Isaiah 37:9He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Isaiah 37:14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh.
Isaiah 42:19Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?
Isaiah 44:26who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’
Jeremiah 27:3Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
Ezekiel 17:15But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?
Ezekiel 23:16As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
Ezekiel 23:40“Furthermore you sisters have sent for men who come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decorated yourself with ornaments,
Ezekiel 30:9“ ‘ “In that day messengers will go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.”
1 Samuel 25:14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to Greet our master; and he insulted them.
Nahum 2:13“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”
Haggai 1:13Then Haggai, Yahweh’s messenger, spoke Yahweh’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says Yahweh.
Malachi 2:7For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.
Malachi 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
Malachi 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
Genesis 32:3Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
Genesis 32:6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
Numbers 20:14Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
Numbers 21:21Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
Numbers 22:5He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt. Behold, they cover the surface of the earth, and they are staying opposite me.
Numbers 24:12Balaam said to Balak, “Didn’t I also tell your messengers whom you sent to me, saying,
Deuteronomy 2:26I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Joshua 6:17The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
Joshua 6:25But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lives in the middle of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Joshua 7:22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.
Judges 6:35He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
Judges 6:35He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together to follow him. He sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.
Judges 7:24Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan!” So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together and took the waters as far as Beth Barah, even the Jordan.
Judges 9:31He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they incite the city against you.
Judges 11:12Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the children of Ammon, saying, “What do you have to do with me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?”
Judges 11:13The king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, “Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore that territory again peaceably.”
Judges 11:14Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon;
Judges 11:17then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land;’ but the king of Edom didn’t listen. In the same way, he sent to the king of Moab, but he refused; so Israel stayed in Kadesh.
Judges 11:19Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’
1 Samuel 6:21They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back Yahweh’s ark. Come down and bring it up to yourselves.”
1 Samuel 11:3The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.”