מַ֫עַל
ma.al
unfaithfulness
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
SupportedThe Hebrew word "ma'al" (Strong's number H4604) conveys the concept of unfaithfulness. This term is deeply embedded in the realm of covenant and promise, indicating a breach or failure to uphold the agreements and commitments made. With 28 occurrences in the Bible, it is a significant element in the narrative of the Old Testament. Given its semantic domain, "ma'al" is often used to describe situations where God's people have failed to fulfill their obligations, leading to consequences such as punishment and exclusion from the community. However, it also serves as a warning and a reminder of the consequences of unfaithfulness, encouraging individuals to adhere to their covenantal duties. The repeated usage of this term throughout the Hebrew Bible underscores its importance in the understanding of God's relationship with humanity. The word "ma'al" does not exclusively refer to actions against God, as it can also denote a breach of trust between individuals, underscoring the universal significance of faithfulness and loyalty in human relationships. By considering "ma'al" within the broader context of covenant and promise, we gain insight into the gravity of unfaithfulness and its far-reaching consequences, not only in the Old Testament narrative but also in our communal and individual lives.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
28 total occurrences across the text
Moreover have we prepared and sanctified all the vessels which king Ahaz threw away in his reign, when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before Yahweh’s altar.”
2 Chronicles 33:19His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
2 Chronicles 36:14Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
Ezra 9:2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.”
Ezra 9:4Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering.
Ezra 10:6Then Ezra rose up from before God’s house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. When he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity.
Job 21:34So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
Ezekiel 14:13“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal;
Ezekiel 15:8I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 17:20I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.
Ezekiel 18:24“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
Ezekiel 20:27“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
Ezekiel 39:26They will bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land, and no one will make them afraid,
Daniel 9:7“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
Leviticus 5:15“If anyone commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly regarding Yahweh’s holy things, then he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your estimation in silver by shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.
Leviticus 6:2“If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor,
Leviticus 26:40“ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me,
Numbers 5:6“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty,
Numbers 5:12“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
Numbers 5:27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people.
Numbers 31:16Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.
Joshua 7:1But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel.
Joshua 22:16“The whole congregation of Yahweh says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following Yahweh, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against Yahweh?
Joshua 22:20Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”
Joshua 22:22“The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against Yahweh (don’t save us today),
Joshua 22:31Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that Yahweh is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against Yahweh. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of Yahweh’s hand.”
1 Chronicles 9:1So all Israel were listed by genealogies; and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their disobedience.
1 Chronicles 10:13So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire,