Maat (מָעַט, Strong's H4591) is a Hebrew word. Strong's defines it as properly, to pare off, i.e. lessen; intransitively, to be (or causatively, to make) small or few (or figuratively, ineffective). The King James Bible translates it as suffer to decrease, diminish, (be, × borrow a, give, make) few (in number, -ness), gather least (little), be (seem) little, (× give the) less, be minished, bring to nothing.

What is the Strong's number for Maat?

The Strong's number for Maat (מָעַט) is H4591. It is a Hebrew word from Strong's public-domain dictionary keyed to the King James Bible.

Bible word study

Maat (Strong’s H4591): Meaning in the Bible

Maat (מָעַט) is the Hebrew word numbered H4591 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to pare off, i.e. lessen; intransitively, to be (or causatively, to make) small or few (or figuratively, ineffective). In the King James Bible it is translated suffer to decrease, diminish, (be, give, make) few (in number.

מָעַט

mâʻaṭ · Hebrew

Strong’s H4591 · maw-at'

Original wordמָעַט
Transliterationmâʻaṭ
Pronunciationmaw-at'
Part of speechverb (v)
Strong’s numberH4591
LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

properly, to pare off, i.e. lessen; intransitively, to be (or causatively, to make) small or few (or figuratively, ineffective)

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

suffer to decrease, diminish, (be, × borrow a, give, make) few (in number, -ness), gather least (little), be (seem) little, (× give the) less, be minished, bring to nothing. (The × marks places where the word shapes the phrasing rather than being rendered by a single English word.)

Where Maat appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Maat (H4591) stands behind 23 English renderings in 21 verses across 11 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Exodus (4), Numbers (4), Leviticus (3).

How the King James Bible renders Maat, by count

few4 of 23 (17 percent)
less4 of 23 (17 percent)
diminished3 of 23 (13 percent)
little3 of 23 (13 percent)
diminish2 of 23 (9 percent)
decrease1 of 23 (4 percent)

Three places to read Maat

Exodus 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Numbers 26:54 To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.
Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

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 Maat 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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