מַסַּע
mas.sa (H4550)
journey
AI Word Study
# Analysis of H4550 (מַסַּע) - Journey The Hebrew word *massa'* refers to a "journey" and appears twelve times throughout the biblical text. As a noun, it denotes the act or instance of traveling from one place to another, representing a discrete movement or expedition rather than movement in general. The term is concrete and specific enough to be countable—the Bible records multiple distinct journeys using this word, suggesting it describes bounded travel episodes with discernible beginnings and endpoints. The twelve occurrences indicate this was a functional vocabulary item for biblical authors describing travel, though not the most frequently used term for the concept. This moderate frequency suggests *massa'* filled a particular communicative need, likely emphasizing the journey as an organized or notable undertaking rather than casual movement. Without access to the specific contexts where the word appears, the lexical data alone indicates that biblical writers distinguished this term from other mobility-related vocabulary, implying it may have carried nuances about the nature, purpose, or scope of travel that differentiated it from synonymous expressions. For modern readers, *massa'* represents how ancient Hebrew vocabulary reflected the significance of travel in the biblical world—a world where journeys were notable enough events to warrant specific terminology. The word's presence in exactly twelve biblical passages demonstrates that journey-language was important to the scriptural record, even if it was not among the most dominant terms in the
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, starting according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys;
For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
“Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps.
When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
The children of Israel went forward on their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud stayed in the wilderness of Paran.
Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward.
These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Moses wrote the starting points of their journeys by the commandment of Yahweh. These are their journeys according to their starting points.
Yahweh said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they shall go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.”