Bible word study

Mashal (Strong’s H4911): Meaning in the Bible

Mashal (מָשַׁל) is the Hebrew word numbered H4911 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to liken, i.e. (transitively) to use figurative language (an allegory, adage, song or the like); intransitively, to resemble. In the King James Bible it is translated be(-come) like, compare, use (as a) proverb, speak (in proverbs), utter..

• Original wordמָשַׁל
• Transliterationmâshal
• Pronunciationmaw-shal'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH4911
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. denominative from H4912;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Mashal appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Mashal (H4911) stands behind 16 English renderings in 15 verses across 5 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Ezekiel (8), Psalms (4), Isaiah (2).

How the King James Bible renders Mashal, by count

• like5 of 16 (31 percent)
• proverb2 of 16 (12 percent)
• proverbs2 of 16 (12 percent)
• speak2 of 16 (12 percent)
• use2 of 16 (12 percent)
• become1 of 16 (6 percent)

Three places to read Mashal

• Numbers 21:27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
• Psalms 143:7 Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
• Ezekiel 17:2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

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 Mashal 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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