Exodus 18:14:9Exod.18.14.W9TAB
מָֽה־הַדָּבָ֤ר
mahhaddavar
“what is the thing”
- Transliteration
- mah-had-da-VAR
- Extended
- mah-had-dah-VAAR
- IPA
- /maː.had.daˈvaːr/
Meaning by language
- English
- what is the thing
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Mem | m as in mother | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Dalet | d as in door | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Bet | b with dagesh; v without dagesh | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Resh | r guttural, like the French r |
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The word
Word in context
- word
mah-had-da-VAR
- phraseyour reading level
mah-had-da-VAR ha-ZE
- clause
va-yo-MER mah-had-da-VAR ha-ZE a-SHER a-TA o-SE la-AM mad-DU-a a-TA yo-SHEV le-vad-DE-kha ve-khol-ha-AM nit-TSAV a-LE-kha min-BO-ker ad-A-rev
- sentence
va-YAR kho-TEN mo-SHE ET kol-a-sher-HU o-SE la-AM va-yo-MER mah-had-da-VAR ha-ZE a-SHER a-TA o-SE la-AM mad-DU-a a-TA yo-SHEV le-vad-DE-kha ve-khol-ha-AM nit-TSAV a-LE-kha min-BO-ker ad-A-rev
Exegesis
The second wayyiqtol wayyō-mer {וַיֹּאמֶר | way-yō-mer} ‘and he said’ introduces two coordinated interrogative clauses: the first uses māh {מָה־ | māh} with the demonstrative haz-zeh {הַזֶּה | haz-zeh} to form the exclamation māh had-dāvar haz-zeh {מָה־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה} ‘what is this matter’; the second uses the interrogative adverb mad-dûaʿ {מַדּוּעַ | mad-dû-aʿ} ‘why’ with the Qal participle yō-šēv {יוֹשֵׁב | yō-šēḇ} ‘sitting’ contrasted with the Niphal participle niṣ-ṣāḇ {נִצָּב | niṣ-ṣāḇ} ‘standing’ in the clause wə-kol hā-ʿām niṣ-ṣāḇ ʿā-le-kā {וְכָל־הָעָם נִצָּב עָלֶיךָ} ‘while all the people stand before you’.
Root and etymology
d-b-rdaleth–beth–resh
“word, matter, thing”
In context — Exodus 18:14
When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this matter that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit by yourself while all the people stand before you from morning until evening?”
About this coordinate
Exodus 18:14:9 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 9 of Exodus 18:14, so the Hebrew word מָֽה־הַדָּבָ֤ר (mahhaddavar) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Exod.18.14.W9, which extends further down to each syllable (Exod.18.14.W9.S1) and character.