to be few, or to make few: to shrink in number or amount, or to reduce something and hand out only a little
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
At its heart this word is about smallness of quantity. It can describe something growing few on its own, as when a household is too small to finish a lamb (Exodus 12:4) or dishonest wealth dwindles away (Proverbs 13:11), and it can describe someone cutting something down, as when God warns that he will reduce a proud nation (Ezekiel 29:15). The same idea runs through both: a number or amount getting smaller.
A distinct shade shows up in the language of shares and portions. When Israel gathered the bread in the desert, the one who gathered little still had no lack (Exodus 16:18), and the people are told to hand out land and towns in proportion, giving the larger group more and the smaller group less (Numbers 26:54; 35:8). Here the word is not about decline at all but about measuring out a small amount on purpose.
Throughout, its natural partner is its opposite, רָבָה, "to be or make many": the two are set side by side again and again, one adding while the other takes away (Jeremiah 30:19;Leviticus 25:16).
Nuances
1ato be or become few, small, or diminished: a number or amount that shrinks
the Hebrew often means simply to grow few on its own, with no one doing the diminishingIsa 21:17Pro 13:11
Both
both describe something being made smaller in amountEzk 29:15Num 26:54
Only diminish
English "diminish" suggests a slow wearing-down or a belittling, while the Hebrew can be a flat, deliberate reduction or simply a smaller amount handed out
“be few”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“give less”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“decrease”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How ma'at differs from similar Hebrew words
צָעַרalso means to be small or few, but leans toward being brought low or made insignificant rather than simply counted as fewer
Measures sheer quantity: how much or how many there is of something. It is the word for a portion that comes out short, an inheritance sized down to a smaller group, or wealth that slowly dwindles away.Exo 16:18Num 26:54Pro 13:11
Counts people as few in number. It describes a household too small to finish a whole lamb, or a fighting remnant reduced to a mere handful.Exo 12:4Isa 21:17
Both
Both describe a group reduced and brought down, and Jeremiah sets them side by side in one promise: God will multiply his people so they are no longer few, and glorify them so they are no longer small.Jer 30:19
Speaks of low standing rather than small number. It describes a man brought low in honor without his ever knowing it, and the lowly, insignificant members of a flock.Job 14:21Zec 13:7
גָּרַעto diminish by taking part away or withholding it, focused on the subtraction, where this word names the resulting fewness itself
Works on number and quantity: becoming few, or reducing a count, a portion, or an amount.Lev 26:22Jer 30:19Exo 12:4
Is the natural opposite of multiplying or increasing, and often stands beside those words as the downward direction of the same scale.Jer 29:6Psa 107:38Ezk 29:15
Governs how a share is measured out, so a smaller group receives a smaller allotment.Num 26:54Num 35:8Lev 25:16
Both
Both are verbs of becoming or making less, built on the idea of "little," and both turn up in the causative form to describe someone deliberately bringing a thing down from a larger state.Ezk 29:15Amo 8:5
Describes a group or number dwindling: a people or population growing few and being brought low.Psa 107:39Isa 21:17Jer 30:19
Means to reduce a quantity on purpose: to give less, lower a price, or cut down a portion or an inheritance.Exo 30:15Lev 25:16Num 26:54
Covers a thing being simply too small or too few in itself, apart from any sense of falling short of a need.Exo 12:42Ki 4:3
Both
Both belong to the language of having or gathering only a small amount, and they meet in the manna account: Exodus 16 describes those who gathered little, and Paul draws on that same account in 2 Corinthians 8:15 to teach that the one who gathered little came up short of nothing.Exo 16:182Co 8:15
Names a personal shortfall measured against need: to come up short, to end up with too little of what one requires. Its single New Testament use makes exactly this point, that the one who gathered little was not left lacking.2Co 8:15
What scholars say about ma'at
Standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) treat מעט as a single verbal root denoting fewness or smallness of quantity, with a stative/inchoative qal ("be or become few, small, diminished") and a causative hiphil ("make few, diminish, give less"); the isolated piel in Ecclesiastes 12:3 is read as "become few." The verb is characteristically paired antithetically with רבה "be/make many," both in proportional-distribution formulas (Numbers 26:54; 35:8; Leviticus 25:16) and in fertility and judgment oracles (Jeremiah 30:19;Ezekiel 29:15). DCH and TWOT note the specialized "gather/give little" usage of the participle in the manna narrative (Exodus 16:17-18), which Paul later cites in 2 Corinthians 8:15.