מֶ֫שֶׁךְ
Meshech
BDB lists 2 entries for ‘Meshech’ 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
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H4902 appears in the Book of Psalms — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Psalms
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.
At its core, משך (Meshek) means “Meshech.” Its uses cluster heavily in Ezekiel (56% of all occurrences). With 9 verses in 4 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 10:2. Dig into 9-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4902 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 →
- 9
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 9 distinct verses.
- 4 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 4 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,481
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,481 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 9 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Ezekiel 5 verses 56%
- 1 Chronicles 2 verses 22%
- Genesis 1 verse 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 9 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 5 verses · 56%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 33%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 1 verse · 11%
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†: Meshech 7×
- American Standard Version†: Meshech 7×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Meshech 9×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Meshech 9×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4902 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H4902 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H4902 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4902 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
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 2 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.
משך I [m.] a drawing, drawing up, a trail
- 1. cstr. מֶשֶׁךְ חָכְמָה מִפְּנִינִים Jb 28:18 the drawing up (fishing up, i.e. securing after effort) of wisdom is beyond corals. e.g. Job 28:18
- 2. cstr. a trail (of seed), מֶ׳ הַזָּ֑רַע ψ 126:6 bearing the trail of seed; cf. מָשַׁךְ 6. e.g. Psalms 126:6
משך II the Moschi (Gk Μοσχοι, v. infr.
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. n.[m.] a drawing, drawing up, a trail;—
II. n.pr.gent. the Moschi (Gk Μοσχοι, v. infr.; Assyrian Mušku, Muški, DlPar 250 SchrCOT Gn 10, 2; KGF 155 ff.; cf. Sab. משך Hal243);—‘son’ of Japheth Gn 10:2 (P), between תֻּבָל and תִּירָס, = 1 Ch 1:5; also, מֶ֑שֶׁךְ, prob. error, v 17 (v. מַשׁ); מֶ֑שֶׁךְ ψ 120:5 (‖ קֵדָר; here without תֻּבָל); תּוּבַל וּמ׳ Ez 27:13 cf. 32:26; 38:2 (both + תֻּבָל); so also 𝔊 Is 66:19 (Lo StaJavan 8 Du CheHpt. v. supr. מָשַׁךְ 2); גּוֹג נְשִׂיא רֹאשׁ מ׳ וְתֻבָ֑ל Ez 38:3; 39:1. 𝔊 Μοσοχ (Μεσοχ), Sam. מושׁ(י)ך.—On identif. cf. Boch.; in Assyrian times they dwelt in W. (or NW.) Armenia (cf. Schrl.c.); in Pers. times appar. farther NE. (SE. of Euxine Sea), cf. Μοσξοι καὶ Τιβαρηνοι Herod.iii. 94; vii. 78; also Di Gn 10:2 and CheEncycl. Bib. Art. Geogr. (Biblical).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from משך (meshek) (H4901) — drawing.
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.
מֶשֶׁךְ
- (b. h.) pr. n. Meshech, a son of Japheth and progenitor of a race of the same name (v. Schrader KAT, p. 84). Y. Meg. I, 71ᵇ bot.; Yoma 10ᵃ, v. מוּסְיָא.
משַׁךְ
- to draw, pull; to seize; (with מן) to withdraw; in gen. to stretch, produce a continuous line or flow; to conduct. Kil. VIII, 2 לחרוש לִמְשׁוֹךְ ולהנהיג to plough with, to pull (by the head, go in front of), and to drive. Gen. R. s. 86 שהיו מוֹשְׁכִין וכ׳, v. infra. Mekh. Bo, s. 11 (ref. to Ex. XII, 21) מִשְׁכוּ מי שיש לו וכ׳ ‘lead forth’ (select), refers to him who has a lamb, ‘and buy’, refers to one who has none. Ib. מִשְׁכוּ מע"ז withdraw from idolatry. Ib. שמוֹשְׁכִין את ידיהם ממנו וכ׳ that you may withdraw your share in the Passover lamb as long as it has not been slaughtered (v. מָנָה); Pes. VIII, 3. Ib. IX, 10 אלו מושכין להן אחד וכ׳ the one company select one lamb, the other &c.—M. Kat. I, 3 מוֹשְׁכִים את המים וכ׳ you may draw (conduct) the water in channels from tree to tree. Pesik. R. s. 26 שמא יִמְשׁוֹךְ לו חלב והוא אינו מוֹשֵׁךְ perhaps it (the breast) will yield him milk when sucking, but it did not yield. Ex. R. s. 52 התחילה מוֹשֶׁכֶת דינרי וכ׳ it (the valley) began to give forth a flow of gold denars before their eyes. Tosef. Sot. XIV, 8; Sot. 47ᵇ מוֹשְׁכֵי הרוק those who draw out their spittle (assume aristocratic airs). Ḥag. 14ᵃ מושכין לבו וכ׳ they draw the heart of the people as one conducts water, when they lecture; Sabb. 87ᵃ (play on ויגד, Ex. XIX, 9, v. נָגַד) דברים שמושכין … כאגדה words which draw (attract) the heart of man like a lecture. Y. Ab. Zar. III, 42ᶜ top מָשְׁכוּ צינורות דם וכ׳ the gutters of Laodicea carried a flow of blood; a. v. fr.—Esp. (law) to take possession by drawing or seizing an object, v. מְשִׁיכָה. B. Mets. IV, 2 מ׳ הימנו פירות וכ׳ if he took possession of fruits bought of him before paying. Ib. 47ᵃ לא הספיק לִמְשׁוֹךְ וכ׳ he had not yet had time to take possession of the ass; a. v. fr.—Zeb. 6ᵇ סכין מוֹשְׁכַתָּן למה שהן the slaughtering knife takes possession of them for what they are to be, i.e. the slaughtering of the sacrifices decides their purpose; Shebu. 12ᵇ.—מ׳ ערלה to stretch the prepuce, to disguise circumcision. Y. Peah I, 16ᵇ; a. e.—Part. pass. מָשׁוּךְ; f. מְשׁוּכָה; pl. מְשׁוּכִים, מְשׁוּכִין; מְשׁוּכוֹת a) straight-lined, continuous. Nidd. 57ᵇ אם מ׳ if the blood-stain has the shape of a line, opp. עגול. Y. Erub. I, 19ᵇ top היה מ׳ if the wall is straight-lined. Ib. שלא תהא הקורה מ׳ וכ׳ that the beam be not prolonged more than &c. Ib. במשוכין יותר וכ׳ when they are longer than &c.; a. fr.—Mikv. V, 3, v. נָדָל.—b) (with מ־) withdrawn. Pes. IX, 10 ידיך מ׳ משלך וכ׳ thy share be withdrawn from thy lamb, and be transferred to ours; a. e.—c) v. מָשׁוּךְ. e.g. Exodus 12:21
- 1. to be stretched. Y. Yeb. VIII, 8ᵈ bot. נִמְשְׁכָה מאליה if the prepuce overgrew the corona of itself, v. מָשׁוּךְ.
- 2. to be prolonged, continued. Hor. 12ᵃ. אין מושחין … כדי שׁתִּמָּשֵׁךְ מלכותן kings are anointed at a spring in order that their government may be prolonged (cmp. Ḥag. l. c.). Ib. נמשכה מלכותן their dynasty was prolonged; a. fr.
- 3. to be withdrawn. Tosef. Pes. VII, 7 רצו להִמָּשֵׁךְ ולהמנות וכ׳ (ed. Zuck. incorrect) if they desire to withdraw, and that others be entered &c. Ib. נִמְשָׁכִין והולכין וכ׳ they may go on withdrawing &c., a. fr.
- 4. to be drawn after; to follow. Ex. R. s. 24. Gen. R. s. 86 לפרה שהיו מושכין … ולא היתה נִמְשֶׁכֶת like a cow which they attempt to pull to the slaughter-house, and which will not go; a. fr.
- 5. to be conducted in a channel. Tosef. Par. IX (VIII), 9 המים הנִמְשָׁכִין וכ׳ well-water derived into a channel &c., v. מָרַץ; a. e.
- 1. to cause to extend. Keth. 10ᵇ (the rain) מצדן ומַמְשִׁיךְ gives beauty and enlargement (to the fruits).
- 2. to draw, pull. Y. Kil. VIII, 31ᶜ top, a. e. הנהיגה הִמְשִׁיכָהּ וכ׳ if he drove the animal, or pulled it, or called it. Ex. R. s. 20, beg. הִמְשַׁכְתִּיו ברסן I pulled him by the bridle; a. e.
- 3. to conduct water into channels. Tem. 12ᵇ שאובה שהִמְשִׁיכוּהָ כולה a collection of drawn water all of which has been conducted through a channel. Y. Shebi. II, end, 34ᵇ להַמְשִׁיךְ to irrigate by gutters, contrad. to להשקות. Y. M. Kat. I, 80ᵇ top ה׳ המעיין וכ׳ he led the water of a well into it. Tosef. Sabb. VII (VIII), 16 מַמְשִׁיכִין יין וכ׳ you may let wine or oil run in gutters before bride and groom; Ber. 50ᵇ; a. fr.
- 4. to prolong a meal, to add a course. Succ. 27ᵃ, v. פַּרְפֶּרֶת.
מְשַׁךְ I
- 1. to draw, carry along. Targ. Y. Gen. IX, 20 דמושכיה נהרא וכ׳ (read: דמַשְׁכֵיה) which the river had carried along from &c.—Zeb. 53ᵇ, a. e. מַשְׁכוּ גברי לגברא the many brought the single man over (to their opinion).
- 2. to attract. Ab. Zar. 27ᵇ שאני מינות דמָשְּׁכָא it is different with heresy, because it attracts (persuades, offers inducements).
- 3. (neut. verb) מְשׁךְ, מְשִׁיךְ to run in a continuous line; to be prolonged, continued. Targ. Y. Num. XXI, 35; Ber. 54ᵇ מַשְׁכֵי שיניה his teeth were prolonged. Hor. 12ᵃ כי היכי דמַשְׁכוּ מיא מַשְׁכָן וכ׳. as the water runs continually, so may the traditions which you teach be continued. Ib. אי משיך נהוריה (Rashi משיך) if the light continues to burn; Ker. 5ᵇ.—[Ib. משכו שתא, read: מסיק.]—Pes. 8ᵃ משיך נהוריה the light (of a lamp or a candle) burns steadily, opp. מיקטף איקטופי. Ab. Zar. 2ᵇ משכי במלכותייהו they will continue their rulership; Yalk. Is. 316 משכה מלכותייהו; a. e.
- 4. to take possession. B. Mets. 48ᵃ עד דמָשֵׁיךְ until he takes possession; עד דמשך until he has taken &c. Ib. 49ᵃ מַשְׁכֵיה he has taken possession of it; a. fr.—Meg. 31ᵃ משך תורא ‘take possession of the ox’ (mnemotechnical words to designate the order of Scriptural readings on the Passover days, ref. to משכו, Ex. XII, 21; שור, Lev. XXII, 26 &c.). e.g. Exodus 12:21
- 1. to be attracted, carried away, seduced. Ab. Zar. l. c. דאתי למִמְּשַׁךְ בתרייהו he may be induced to follow them (the heretics). Snh. 70ᵃ משום אִימְּשׁוּכֵי הוא it is in order to prevent being carried away (led to intemperance); לא מִימְּשִׁיךְ he will not be carried away (it has no attraction for him); Yalk. Deut. 929. Sabb. 147ᵇ אי׳ בתרייהו he was drawn after them, he indulged in the luxuries of the place; a. fr.
- 2. (v. preced.Nif.) to withdraw. Pes. 78ᵇ אי מִמְשְׁכֵי הני וכ׳ if these should withdraw (from their participation in the Passover sacrifice), it would remain fit for the others.
מְשַׁךְ II
- (preced.) hide, skin. Targ. O. Num. XXXI, 20. Targ. Lev. XIII, 8 (ed. Berl. מַשְׁכָּא). Targ. Y. Gen. III, 14 מִשְׁכ׳; a. fr.—Y. Ned. III, 37ᵈ bot. משך דחיוי the hide of a serpent. B. Kam. 66ᵇ, v. אֲבִרְזִין. Tanḥ. B’resh. 7 הדין ערקא מן הדין מ׳ such a strap from such a hide (such poor work with such good material)!; a. fr.—Pl. מַשְׁכִין, מַשְׁכֵי, מִי׳, מוֹ׳. Targ. Ex. XXVI, 14. Targ. Gen. XXVII, 16; a. fr.
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 7 distinct written forms H4902 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וּ/מֶ֖שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Genesis 10:2 | 2 |
| מֶ֥שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 38:3 | 2 |
| וָ/מֶ֔שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 27:13 | 1 |
| וָ/מֶֽשֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 1:17 | 1 |
| מֶ֑שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Psalms 120:5 | 1 |
| מֶ֣שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 38:2 | 1 |
| מֶ֤שֶׁךְ | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 32:26 | 1 |
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Meshech). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
Drawing out, the sixth son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2), the founder of a tribe (1 Chr. 1:5; Ezek. 27:13; 38:2, 3). They were in all probability the Moschi, a people inhabiting the Moschian Mountains, between the Black and the Caspian Seas. In Ps. 120:5 the name occurs as simply a synonym for foreigners or barbarians. "During the ascendency of the Babylonians and Persians in Western Asia, the Moschi were subdued; but it seems probable that a large number of them crossed the Caucasus range and spread over the northern steppes, mingling with the Scythians. There they became known as Muscovs, and gave that name to the Russian nation and its ancient capital by which they are still generally known throughout the East"
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
who is drawn by force
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 9 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 9 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.
