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ma'akhal

מַאֲכָל

HebrewH3978food, meat

Appears 30 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 2:9Gen 3:6Gen 6:21Gen 40:17Lev 19:23Deu 20:20Deu 28:26Jdg 14:141Ki 10:51Ch 12:40(41)2Ch 9:42Ch 11:11Ezr 3:7Neh 9:25Job 33:20Psa 44:11(12)Pro 6:8Ezk 4:10Dan 1:10Hab 1:16
Root family
Word studymah-ah-KHAHLnoun

What ma'akhal means

food: anything eaten, whatever serves as something to eat

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is a plain, everyday word for food, built directly on the common verb "to eat," so at heart it means simply "something to eat." It covers the whole range of edible things rather than any one kind of dish.

The word stays the same while what is being eaten changes. It can name the fare on a king's table, the provisions a household gathers, the fruit hanging on a tree, or, in the grim language of judgment oracles, a corpse left in the open. Only the context tells you which is in view.

Because the word is this broad, older English Bibles translate it several different ways, most famously "meat," which once meant food of any kind. A modern reader should hear the wide, simple sense: food, whatever is eaten.

Nuances

1afood that people eat: a meal, provisions, or fare set out to be eaten
Gen 6:21Gen 40:17Jdg 14:141Ki 10:51Ch 12:40(41)2Ch 9:42Ch 11:11Ezr 3:7Job 33:20Pro 6:8Isa 62:8Ezk 4:10
1bfood as the edible yield of a plant: fruit or produce good to eat
Gen 2:9Gen 3:6Lev 19:23Deu 20:20Neh 9:25Ezk 47:12
1cprey: a creature or corpse given over to be devoured, as bodies left for birds and wild animals
Deu 28:26Psa 44:11(12)Psa 74:14Psa 79:2Jer 7:33Jer 16:4Jer 19:7Jer 34:20

What scholars say about ma'akhal

Standard lexicons treat this as a straightforward noun of food formed on the common verb "to eat," covering everything edible: human fare, the produce of trees, and prey left for scavengers. There is no dispute about its sense; the only nuance the dictionaries flag is its breadth, which is why English versions render it variously as food, meat, fruit, or prey depending on context.

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. מַאֲכָלlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. מַאֲכָלlexicon
  • G. Gerleman, "אכל," in Theologisches Handwörterbuch zum Alten Testament (THAT)dictionary

All attested forms of מַאֲכָל

m s absolute

מַאֲכָל

Gen 2:9, Gen 3:6, Gen 6:21, Lev 19:23, Deu 20:20, Deu 28:26, Jdg 14:14, 1Ch 12:40

m s construct

מַאֲכַל

Gen 40:17, 1Ki 10:5, 2Ch 9:4, Job 33:20

m s construct

מַאֲכַלְכֶם

Dan 1:10

m s construct

מַאֲכָלְךָ

Ezk 4:10

m s construct

מַאֲכָלָהּ

Pro 6:8

m s construct

מַאֲכָלוֹ

Hab 1:16