Bible word study

Pathah (Strong’s H6601): Meaning in the Bible

Pathah (פָּתָה) is the Hebrew word numbered H6601 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to open, i.e. be (causatively, make) roomy; usually figuratively (in a mental or moral sense) to be (causatively, make) simple or (in a sinister way) delude. In the King James Bible it is translated allure, deceive, enlarge, entice, flatter.

• Original wordפָּתָה
• Transliterationpâthâh
• Pronunciationpaw-thaw'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH6601
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Pathah appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Pathah (H6601) stands behind 28 English renderings in 26 verses across 13 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Proverbs (5), 1 Kings (3), 2 Chronicles (3).

How the King James Bible renders Pathah, by count

• entice7 of 28 (25 percent)
• deceived6 of 28 (21 percent)
• persuade3 of 28 (11 percent)
• deceive2 of 28 (7 percent)
• enticed2 of 28 (7 percent)
• allure1 of 28 (4 percent)

Three places to read Pathah

• Genesis 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
• 1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
• Proverbs 16:29 A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.

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 Pathah 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.

Related words