מָעַל
to betray
‘to betray’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘wife against’
Form
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H4603 appears in the Book of Numbers — 3 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Numbers
- Numbers 5:6 לִ/מְעֹ֥ל prep + Qal inf.cs "Speak to the children of Israel: When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty;
- Numbers 5:12 וּ/מָעֲלָ֥ה conj + Qal wpf 3fs "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: If any man's wife goes astray, and is unfaithful to him,
- Numbers 5:27 וַ/תִּמְעֹ֣ל conj + Qal wimpf 3fs When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people.
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.
מעל (mâʻal) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to betray.” Scripture first uses it in Leviticus 5:15. It turns up in 35 verses across 11 books, a moderately common footprint. Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. It clusters with מעיל and מעל under a shared root. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4603 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 →
- 35
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 35 distinct verses.
- 11 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 11 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #990
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 990 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 35 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 2 Chronicles 8 verses 23%
- Ezekiel 7 verses 20%
- Joshua 4 verses 11%
By section of the Old Testament
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 35 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 17 verses · 49%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 11 verses · 31%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 20%
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).
- King James Version: Commit 5×, Transgressed 3×, They have committed 2×
- American Standard Version: Commit 5×, Trespass 4×, They trespassed 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Acts 3×, Acting unfaithfully 2×, Have been unfaithful 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Act unfaithfully 4×, Acted unfaithfully 3×, Act faithlessly 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4603 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 21 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H4603 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 19 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 H4603 across 33 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 20 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4603 across 42 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 23 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
8 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 8 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.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. מָעַל Jos 22:20 + 4 times; 3 fs. מָֽעֲלָה Lv 5:21 Nu 5:12 + 13 times Pf.; Impf. יִמְעַל Pr 16:10 2 Ch 26:16; 3 fs. תִּמְעֹל Lv 5:15 Nu 5:27; 3 mpl. יִמְעֲלוּ Jos 7:1, וַיִּמְעֲלוּ 1 Ch 5:25; 2 mpl. תִּמְעָ֑לוּ Ne 1:8; Inf. cstr. לִמְעֹל, so read for ℌ למסר Nu 31:16 Thes Di;—act unfaithfully, treacherously, usually e.g. Joshua 22:20
- 1. מָעַל מַ֫עַל:
- a. abs. בַּחֵרֶם in the matter of the devoted thing (the sin of Achan) Jos 7:1 (JE), 22:20 (P), cf. Lv 5:15 (P), 2 Ch 36:14 Ez 14:13; 15:8; 18:24. e.g. Joshua 7:1
- b. wife against (בְּ) husband Nu 5:12, 27 (P; marital infidelity). e.g. Numbers 5:12
- c. elsewhere ag. (בְּ) God, Lv 26:40 (H), 5:21 Nu 5:6; 31:16 (?) Jos 22:16, 31 (all P), 1 Ch 10:13 2 Ch 28:19 Ez 17:20; 20:27; 39:26 Dn 9:7. e.g. Leviticus 26:40
- 2. usage without מַעַל (only late):
- a. במשׁפט לא ימעל פיו Pr 16:10 let not his (the king’s) mouth act treacherously against justice (RV in judgment). e.g. Proverbs 16:10
- b. elsewhere against God, c. בְּ, Dt 32:51 (P), 1 Ch 5:25 2 Ch 12:3; 26:16; 28:22; 30:7 Ezr 10:2 Ne 13:27 Ez 39:23; without בְּ, 2 Ch 26:18; 29:6 Ezr 10:10 Ne 1:8; בַּהֵרֶם 1 Ch 2:7. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:51
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
vb. act unfaithfully, treacherously, a priestly word (P Ez. Ch.), chiefly late (NH id., act unfaithfully; Arabic مَغَلَ whisper, backbite, مَغَالَةٌ perfidy, fraud);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
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.
מֵעַל
- (adopted fr. Deut. XXV, 9) [from on,] upper of the shoe. Yeb. 102ᵃ התודה אמרה מ׳ ולא מ׳ דמ׳ the text says ‘from on’ (his foot) but not the cover of a cover, i.e. the upper must be immediate to the skin of the foot, v. אַפַּנְתָּא. Ib. א"כ ליכתוב רחמנא במ׳ רגלו if it were so (that חלץ, Deut. l. c. meant ‘to fasten’), the text ought to have read ‘on the upper part of his foot’. e.g. Deuteronomy 25:9
מַעַל
- circumvention; fraud, adulteration, faithlessness. Yalk. Ex. 343, v. דֶּלֶם. Num. R. s. 7, v. next w.
מָעַל
- denom. of preced.) to circumvent, defraud. Sifré Num. 7 (ref. to Num. V, 12) ומָעֲלָה בו מ׳ על דבר ערוה וכ׳ does ‘she was faithless to him’ refer to marital betrayal or to money matters?; v. מְעִילָה.—Esp. to make inappropriate use of sacred property, to be guilty of transgressing, be amenable to, the law concerning מְעִילָה (Lev. V, 15, sq.). Meïl. I, 1 מוֹעֲלִים בהן in using them inadvertently one commits m’ʿilah (i.e. they retain their sacred character in spite of a mistake made at their slaughtering). Ib. אין מוֹעֲלִין בה it has no longer a sacred character. Ib. III, 2 לא נהנין ולא מועלין בהן you must not make use of them, but if you did, you are not amenable to &c.; a. v. fr.—[Yalk. Num. 765 מועל ומשקר, read מְעַוֵּל, v. עָוַל.] e.g. Numbers 5:12
מְעַל
- Meïl. 14ᵇ דקמָעֵיל בקודשא that he makes improper use of sacred property; ib. דקא מועיל בקדשים (corr. acc.).
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 33 distinct written forms H4603 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| מָֽעֲלוּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Daniel 9:7 | 3 |
| וּ/מָעֲלָ֥ה | Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Leviticus 6:2 | 2 |
| בְּ/מַעֲלָ֥/ם | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | Ezekiel 20:27 | 1 |
| וַ/יִּֽמְעֲל֔וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | 1 Chronicles 5:25 | 1 |
| וַ/יִּמְעֲל֧וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Joshua 7:1 | 1 |
| וַ/יִּמְעַ֖ל | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 2 Chronicles 26:16 | 1 |
| וַ/תִּמְעֹ֣ל | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Numbers 5:27 | 1 |
| וּ/מָע֥וֹל | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Absolute | 2 Chronicles 28:19 | 1 |
| יִמְעַל | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Proverbs 16:10 | 1 |
| לִ/מְע֣וֹל | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | 2 Chronicles 28:22 | 1 |
| לִ/מְעָול | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | 2 Chronicles 36:14 | 1 |
| לִ/מְעָל | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | Ezekiel 14:13 | 1 |
| לִ/מְעֹ֖ל | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | Nehemiah 13:27 | 1 |
| לִ/מְעֹ֥ל | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | Numbers 5:6 | 1 |
| מְעַלְתֶּ֔ם | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Ezra 10:10 | 1 |
| מְעַלְתֶּ֜ם | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Deuteronomy 32:51 | 1 |
| מְעַלְתֶּ֥ם | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Joshua 22:31 | 1 |
| מְעַלְתֶּם֙ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Joshua 22:16 | 1 |
| מַ֔עַל | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Chronicles 36:14 | 1 |
| מָ֣עֲלוּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Ezekiel 15:8 | 1 |
| מָ֤עַל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Joshua 22:20 | 1 |
| מָֽעַל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Ezekiel 17:20 | 1 |
| מָעֲל֔וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | 2 Chronicles 30:7 | 1 |
| מָעֲל֖וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | 2 Chronicles 12:2 | 1 |
| מָעֲל֣וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | 2 Chronicles 29:6 | 1 |
| מָעֲלוּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Ezekiel 39:26 | 1 |
| מָעַ֔לְתָּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular | 2 Chronicles 26:18 | 1 |
| מָעַ֖ל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 1 Chronicles 2:7 | 1 |
| מָעַ֛ל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Ezekiel 18:24 | 1 |
| מָעַ֣ל | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 1 Chronicles 10:13 | 1 |
| מָעַ֣לְנוּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural | Ezra 10:2 | 1 |
| תִמְעֹ֣ל | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Leviticus 5:15 | 1 |
| תִּמְעָ֔לוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | Nehemiah 1:8 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4603, 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.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 33 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 35 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
- Leviticus 5:15
- Numbers 5:6
- Deuteronomy 32:51
- Joshua 7:1
- 1 Chronicles 2:7
- 2 Chronicles 12:2
- Ezra 10:2
- Proverbs 16:10
- Ezekiel 14:13
- Daniel 9:7
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.
