מָשׂוֹשׂ

# Māśôś: Rejoicing in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word māśôś (H4885) denotes the concept of "rejoicing"—a substantive noun that captures the state or act of being joyful. With 17 occurrences across the biblical text, this term represents a significant vocabulary choice for expressing positive emotion and celebration within the Hebrew scriptures. The relatively modest frequency of māśôś, compared to other emotion-words, suggests it was reserved for particular contexts where the translator or original author wished to emphasize rejoicing specifically. The fact that it appears 17 times indicates the concept held enough importance to warrant its own distinct term, rather than relying solely on related vocabulary for joy or gladness. This selective usage pattern implies that biblical authors drew meaningful distinctions between different types or expressions of positive emotion. As a noun form, māśôś differs from verb-based expressions of joy, giving it a more concrete quality—it refers to rejoicing as an identifiable state or condition rather than merely the act of rejoicing. This grammatical distinction may have made the word particularly suitable for contexts where rejoicing needed to be presented as something tangible or substantial, whether as a human response, a divine gift, or an expected outcome of certain situations.