to draw: to pull something along by steady force, whether a body, a bowstring, a sound, or a stretch of time
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled
The picture behind this verb is a steady, continuing pull. Someone lays hold of a thing and moves it by drawing it toward or after himself: hauling a man up out of a pit, dragging a body away, pulling a plow, drawing a bow.
From that physical core the word reaches naturally into things that are not solid objects. A trumpet blast can be drawn out so that it runs on long and loud. A promise or a punishment can be drawn out in the sense of being stretched across time, put off, or kept going. Kindness can be drawn out so that it lasts.
The same image also turns inward and gentle. To draw a person can mean to pull at the heart, to attract or lead someone with cords of love rather than force. So the range runs from a rope hauling dead weight to God quietly drawing his people to himself, held together by the one idea of applying a pull.
Nuances
1ato drag or haul a person or object bodily, moving its weight by force
in the original the pull can run through time, so that a blast, a promise, or a kindness is drawn out and made to last, which plain draw does not signalPsa 36:10Exo 19:13
Both
both name the act of pulling something toward oneself by steady forceGen 37:28
Only draw
English draw often means to sketch or to attract without effort, connotations the original does not carry
the original also reaches the gentle sense of drawing a person by love, which drag cannot holdHos 11:4
Both
both describe hauling a heavy body along by forceEzk 32:20
Only drag
drag implies resistance and rough handling, which the word does not always carry
“prolong”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“allure”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How mashakh differs from similar Hebrew words
סחבto drag away, with the harsher sense of trailing something along the ground; to draw stresses the pulling force, to drag away stresses the rough hauling off
covers pulling or hauling of every kind, gently or by force: seizing prey, sounding a horn by a long blast, hauling a bowstring, leading people along by cordsGen 37:28Jos 6:5Psa 10:9
reaches beyond physical pulling into stretching something out over time: prolonging life or favor, drawing out a hope until the heart grows sickPsa 36:10Pro 13:12Neh 9:30
carries a warm, tender sense of drawing a person toward oneself in love and kindnessJer 31:3Hos 11:4Sng 1:4
means dragging a body along the ground, always brutal and dishonoring: hauling a corpse out of the city, tearing off the weakest of a flockJer 22:19Jer 49:20Jer 50:45
used of dragging an entire city off with ropes into a valley, a picture of total, forcible removal2Sa 17:13
נהגto drive or lead a flock or people forward, pushing from behind or guiding ahead; to draw pulls toward oneself rather than driving onward
Names a pull toward the one doing the pulling: hauling a body up, dragging, drawing out. The force is directed back to the mover.Gen 37:28Job 41:1
Used of drawing a weapon into readiness, the tensing pull of a bow or a sword taken up.1Ki 22:34
Stretches into a figure for time and affection: to prolong or keep something going, and to draw a person by cords of love.Psa 36:10Jer 31:3Hos 11:4
Both
Both can describe steering the self along a chosen course rather than moving an object, as when the writer draws his own body one way while his mind guides him another.Ecc 2:3
Names the physical act of pulling or dragging: hauling a body up out of a pit, drawing a sea creature out with a hook, dragging prey into a net.Gen 37:28Job 41:1Psa 10:9
Used for drawing a person toward oneself, the tug of attraction and affection, as when God says he drew his people with cords of love.Jer 31:3Hos 11:4Sng 1:4
Both
Both can mean to prolong or stretch out something over time, especially an inner disposition kept up, such as anger held back or held on against a people.Isa 48:9Psa 85:5
Fixes on length or duration as a settled state: something simply is long, lasts long, or is made to last, with no idea of pulling. Its signature use is the promise of long life as the reward for obedience, that a person's days may be long in the land.Exo 20:12Deu 4:401Ki 3:14
Covers physical length in space, a thing stretched out to greater extent or grown long.Isa 54:2Ezk 31:5
To draw or drag something along its length, pulling it steadily out or across (a body from a pit, a net over prey, a great beast hauled up).Gen 37:28Psa 10:9Job 41:1
To stretch out in time: to prolong, continue, or draw a matter on.Neh 9:30Psa 36:10
To draw a person with affection, leading them gently as with cords of love.Jer 31:3Hos 11:4
Both
Both can mean drawing or luring people away from where they are, pulling a force toward a chosen place.Jdg 4:7Jos 8:6
To snap or break cords, ropes, and bonds so they come apart.Jdg 16:9Psa 2:3Ecc 4:12
mashakh in the other biblical languages
ἕλκωGreek“to draw/persuade”the Greek verb for drawing or dragging that covers the same range, from hauling a net or a sword to God drawing people to himself
The Hebrew word stretches into time as well as space, meaning to prolong or draw something out: to keep favor going, to sound a horn blast long, or to defer a hope.Psa 36:10Psa 85:5Exo 19:13Pro 13:12
It covers concrete pulling that has no New Testament counterpart in the Greek word, such as drawing a bow to shoot or trailing seed while sowing.1Ki 22:34Amo 9:13
Both
Both are used of God drawing his people to himself, and in both the picture is a sustained pull rather than one quick grab. Jeremiah has God drawing Israel with lasting love, Hosea pictures him leading them with "cords of kindness", and in John the Father draws people to the Son while the Son lifted up draws people to himself. That gentle imagery says how the drawing is pictured, not how strong it is: whether such a pull can be refused is argued from the wider teaching of Scripture and is not settled by either word.Jer 31:3Hos 11:4Jhn 6:44Jhn 12:32
Both can name the rough, physical act of dragging someone or something out of a place.Gen 37:28Jhn 18:10
In the New Testament this word is the ordinary verb for hauling a person or thing along by force, whether seizing someone to drag them before the authorities or pulling in a full net.Act 16:19Act 21:30Jas 2:6Jhn 21:6
What scholars say about mashakh
The lexica (BDB; HALOT; DCH) treat H4900 as a single verb with the base sense to draw, drag, pull, and derive the temporal, acoustic, and affective uses from it. BDB lists the physical drawing (of a body, a load, a bow), the drawing out of time or sound (Exod 19:13;Ps 36:10;Ezek 12:25), the drawing of a person in allurement (Jer 31:3;Hos 11:4;Song 1:4), and idiomatic uses such as trailing seed at sowing (Amos 9:13) and drawing iniquity with cords (Isa 5:18). The rendering of the participle in Isa 18:2, 7 (a nation drawn out and smooth, that is, tall and sleek) is disputed and often assigned to this root's sense of stretching or extending. The Septuagint renders the verb most often with helko / helkuo, the same word taken up in the New Testament for drawing people to God.