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מְאֹד

exceedingly

‘exceedingly’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H3966 Strong's Hebrew
mᵉʼôd Transliteration
/meh-ode'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 300 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

The Hebrew word מאד centers on the idea of “exceedingly.” First canonically at Genesis 1:31, it enters the text early. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 278 verses — common. Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. Related forms include אוד, אד and אודות. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
diligently
Modern gloss
exceedingly
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H3966 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

278
distinct verses
The word appears in 278 distinct verses.
28 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 28 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 1:31
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 1:31.
Zechariah 14:14
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 14:14.
#164
by frequency
Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 164 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 278 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 68 · 24%
  • Historical 127 · 46%
  • Wisdom 39 · 14%
  • Prophets 44 · 16%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 278 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 134 verses · 48%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 76 verses · 27%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 68 verses · 24%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

  • King James Version: Very 55×, Greatly 29×, Was very 21×
  • American Standard Version: Very 47×, Greatly 26×, Was very 22×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Very 27×, Greatly 21×, Was very 8×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Very 135×, Greatly 61×, Exceedingly 23×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H3966 across 286 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Very” 55×
  • “Greatly” 29×
  • “Was very” 21×
  • “Great” 10×
  • “Exceedingly” 9×
  • “Exceeding” 8×
  • “Was a very” 7×
  • “He was sore” 5×
  • “Was greatly” 5×
  • “Diligently” 4×
  • “Is very” 4×
  • “Much” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 76 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 13 further occurrences.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H3966 across 283 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Very” 47×
  • “Greatly” 26×
  • “Was very” 22×
  • “Exceeding” 12×
  • “Great” 9×
  • “Exceedingly” 7×
  • “Was a very” 6×
  • “And” 4×
  • “Diligently” 4×
  • “Him” 4×
  • “Is very” 4×
  • “Was greatly” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 80 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H3966 across 195 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Very” 27×
  • “Greatly” 21×
  • “Was very” 8×
  • “Exceedingly” 7×
  • “Great” 5×
  • “Highly” 3×
  • “Are very” 2×
  • “Be very” 2×
  • “Became very” 2×
  • “Carefully” 2×
  • “Completely” 2×
  • “Deeply” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 76 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 104 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H3966 across 296 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Very” 135×
  • “Greatly” 61×
  • “Exceedingly” 23×
  • “Extremely” 11×
  • “Great” 10×
  • “Abundance” 7×
  • “Much” 7×
  • “Strongly” 3×
  • “Utterly” 3×
  • “Is exceedingly” 2×
  • “Quickly” 2×
  • “Strength” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 28 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


7 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 7 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

מאד I (√ of following Assyrian ma’âdu, be many, increase

מאד II muchness, force, abundance, exceedingly (cf. Assyrian mu’du, abundance, HomZMG 1878, 711 (‘treasures ana mu’di, in abundance’) DlHWB 399)

  • 1. force, might, †Dt 6:5 וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶ֑ךָ and with all thy might; hence 2 K 23:25. e.g. Deuteronomy 6:5
  • 2. in diff. idioms (298 times) to express the idea of exceedingly, greatly, very (whether of magnitude or degree):
    • a. (so mostly) as adv. acc., qualifying both adj. and obs., Gn 1:31 טוֹב מְאֹד good exceedingly, 4:5 וַיִּחַר לְקַיִן מְאֹד and Cain was wroth exceedingly, 7:18 וַיִּגְבְּרוּ הַמַּיִם וַיִּרְבּוּ מְאֹד, 12:14; 13:2 וְאַבְרָם כָּבֵד מְאֹד בַּמִּקְנֶה, v 13 חַטָּאִים לי׳ מאד, 18:20; 19:3, 9; 21:11; 24:16, 35, + often, ψ 46:2 עֶזְרָה בְצָרוֹת נִמְצָא מְאֹד as a help in troubles, to be found (= present) exceedingly; with an inf. Is 47:9 בְּעָצְמַת חֲבָרַיִךְ מְאֹד despite of thy spells being very numerous, Jos 9:13 מֵרֹב הַדֶּרֶךְ מְאֹד, 1 K 7:47; הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד Gn 15:1; 41:49; Dt 3:5 +, for which in the later language is found לָרֹב מְאֹד †Zc 14:14; 2 Ch 4:18; 9:9 (in 1 K 10:10 הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד), 24:24; 30:13, and even לְהַרְבֵּה מְאֹד †2 Ch 11:12; 16:8. מְאֹד is not usually separated from the word it qualifies by more than one or two words (as Gn 20:8 וייראו האנשׁים מאד, Nu 11:10 ויחר אף י׳ מאד); see, however, Dt 30:14; Ju 12:2; 2 S 12:5; 1 K 11:19 ψ 31:12. It precedes its verb, †ψ 47:10 מְאֹד נַעֲלָה (hence 97:9), 92:6. e.g. Genesis 1:31
    • b. עַד־מְאֹד up to abundance, to a great degree, exceedingly, †Gn 27:33 חֲרָדָה גְּדֹלָה עַד־מ׳, v 34 1 S 11:15 וישׂמח … עד מ׳, 25:36 וְהוּא שִׁכֹּר עַד־מ׳, 2 S 2:17; 1 K 1:4; Is 64:8 (cf. La 5:22), v 11 ψ 38:7, 9; 119:8, 43, 51, 107; Dn 8:8; 11:25. e.g. Genesis 27:33
    • c. עַד־לִמְאֹד (v. עַד לְ)† 2 Ch 16:14. e.g. 2 Chronicles 16:14
    • d. duplicated (Ges§ 133 k), †Gn 7:19 וְהַמַּיִם גָּֽבְרוּ מ׳ מ׳, 30:43; Nu 14:7; 1 K 7:47; 2 K 10:4; Ez 37:10. e.g. Genesis 7:19
    • e. בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד lit. with muchness, muchness, †Gn 17:2, 6, 20; Ex 1:7 (all P), Ez 9:9; 16:13. e.g. Genesis 17:2

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

I. (√ of following Assyrian ma’âdu, be many, increase; maʾadu, many; ma’adiš, in abundance, DlHWB, 388 f.; cf. Sab. מאד to add, DHMZMG 1883, 342 f. HomSüd-Ar. Chr. 127; Arabic مَأَدَ begin to grow, of plant).

I. n.m. muchness, force, abundance, exceedingly (cf. Assyrian mu’du, abundance, HomZMG 1878, 711 (‘treasures ana mu’di, in abundance’) DlHWB 399):—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from אוד (ʼûwd) (H181) — firebrand.

TWOT: 1134


Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

מְאֹד

  • v. Schr. KAT2, p. 564) much; (adv.) very. Ber. IX, 5 (ref. to מאדך Deut. VI, 5) בכל מדה ומדה … הוי מודה לו במ׳ מ׳ (Ms. M. a. Y. ed. מ׳ מ׳; Bab. ed. 54ᵃ במ׳ מ׳ omitted) whatever measure he may measure out to thee, give thanks to him very, very much. Ab. IV, 4 מ׳ מ׳ הוי וכ׳ be exceedingly lowly in mind (humble). e.g. Deuteronomy 6:5

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.


Forms in the corpus

The 23 distinct written forms H3966 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
מְאֹֽד Adverb Deuteronomy 2:4 89
מְאֹ֑ד Adverb Daniel 8:8 82
מְאֹ֔ד Adverb Esther 1:12 47
מְאֹ֖ד Adverb Deuteronomy 4:15 27
מְאֹד֙ Adverb Exodus 11:3 11
מְאֹ֗ד Adverb Deuteronomy 4:9 8
בִּ/מְאֹ֣ד Adverb Exodus 1:7 5
מְאֹ֜ד Adverb 1 Samuel 28:15 5
מְאֹ֣ד Adverb Genesis 30:43 5
מְאֹ֥ד Adverb Genesis 7:19 4
מְאֹד֒ Adverb Genesis 27:33 3
מְ֝אֹ֗ד Adverb Psalms 78:59 2
מְאֹ֛ד Adverb 1 Samuel 5:11 2
בִּ/מְאֹ֥ד Adverb Genesis 17:2 1
לִ/מְאֹֽד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 16:14 1
מְ֭אֹד Adverb Psalms 6:10 1
מְאֹ֡ד Adverb 2 Chronicles 9:1 1
מְאֹ֤ד Adverb Joshua 9:24 1
מְאֹד Adverb Ezekiel 37:10 1
מְאֹד֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Kings 23:25 1
מְאֹד֮ Adverb Psalms 31:11 1
מְאֹדֶֽ/ךָ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 6:5 1
מְּאֹ֑ד Adverb Psalms 104:1 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3966, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derives from

Shares the same root

Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 252 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 278 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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