StrongerBible

maḥar

מָחָר

HebrewH4279tomorrow, in time to come

Appears 52 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 30:33Exo 8:10(6)Exo 8:23(19)Exo 8:29(25)Exo 9:5Exo 9:18Exo 10:4Exo 13:14Exo 16:23Exo 17:9Exo 19:10Exo 32:5
Root family
Word studyma-KHARnoun

What maḥar means

tomorrow: the day after today, and by extension the time still to come

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This word names the near edge of the future. Most often it means exactly what "tomorrow" means in English: the very next day. A plague will fall the next morning, an army will march at first light, a meal is prepared the night before for the day ahead. In this everyday use the word is concrete and short, the day that has not yet dawned.

The same word also stretches forward into a vaguer distance. In a recurring expression, a parent imagines a child who will one day ask what these stones or these laws mean, and the word translated "tomorrow" there does not mean the next morning at all. It means "someday," "in time to come," the open future when a later generation looks back. Hebrew lets the single word carry both the literal next day and this looser sense of days ahead, the way English "down the road" can mean either soon or eventually.

The two uses are not separate words but two reaches of one idea: the time that lies just beyond now. Context decides whether it is the next sunrise or a future no one can date.

Nuances

1atomorrow: the literal next day
TranslatabilityDirect
Exo 8:10(6)Exo 8:23(19)Exo 8:29(25)Exo 9:5Exo 9:18Exo 10:4Exo 16:23Exo 17:9Exo 19:10Exo 32:5Num 11:18Num 14:25
1bin time to come: a future, indefinite day, often when a later generation looks back and asks
Gen 30:33Exo 13:14Deu 6:20Jos 4:6Jos 4:21Jos 22:24Jos 22:27Jos 22:28

What scholars say about maḥar

Standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat מָחָר as a single temporal substantive used adverbially, with two well-attested ranges: the literal next day and an extended sense of future time. The extended sense is concentrated in the catechetical formula כִּי יִשְׁאָלְךָ בִנְךָ מָחָר and related constructions (Exod 13:14; Deut 6:20; Josh 4:6, 21; 22:24, 27, 28), where מָחָר denotes a later, indefinite day rather than the morrow. The longer construct מָחֳרָת ("the next day, the day after") is a related but distinct form. No live dispute attaches to the meaning of the word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. מָחָרlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. מָחָרlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. מָחָרlexicon

All attested forms of מָחָר

m s absolute

מָחָר

Gen 30:33, Exo 8:10, Exo 8:23, Exo 8:29, Exo 9:5, Exo 9:18, Exo 10:4, Exo 13:14