Bible word study

Machah (Strong’s H4229): Meaning in the Bible

Machah (מָחָה) is the Hebrew word numbered H4229 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to stroke or rub; by implication, to erase; also to smooth (as if with oil), i.e. grease or make fat; also to touch, i.e. reach to. In the King James Bible it is translated abolish, blot out, destroy, full of marrow, put out.

• Original wordמָחָה
• Transliterationmâchâh
• Pronunciationmaw-khaw'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH4229
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Machah appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Machah (H4229) stands behind 36 English renderings in 32 verses across 12 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Psalms (6), Genesis (4), Exodus (4).

How the King James Bible renders Machah, by count

• out17 of 36 (47 percent)
• destroyed3 of 36 (8 percent)
• away2 of 36 (6 percent)
• blot2 of 36 (6 percent)
• destroy2 of 36 (6 percent)
• wipeth2 of 36 (6 percent)

Three places to read Machah

• Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
• Deuteronomy 25:19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.
• Psalms 109:13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Machah in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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