מַי
ma.yim (H4325G)
water
AI Word Study
# Water (Mayim) in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *mayim* appears 576 times throughout the Bible, making it one of the most frequently occurring nouns in biblical text. This frequency itself indicates the centrality of water to the lived experience of ancient Israel and to the narratives, laws, and poetry preserved in scripture. The straightforward definition—"water"—reflects a concrete, physical referent essential to survival and daily life in the ancient Near East. The sheer number of occurrences suggests that water functioned as more than a simple substance in biblical discourse. Its pervasiveness across 576 passages means it appears not only in narratives about survival and sustenance, but likely in metaphorical, theological, and symbolic contexts as well. However, without access to the specific passages and their contexts, we can only confirm that the word maintained its basic referential meaning—the physical element—across diverse biblical literature. The lemma *mayim* represents a stable, foundational vocabulary item in biblical Hebrew, used consistently to denote water itself. Its prevalence reflects both the practical importance of water in ancient Palestinian geography and agriculture, and the likelihood that biblical authors drew upon this tangible, universally understood term when composing religious texts across multiple genres and time periods.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.
God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.
God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”
God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth.
Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the floodwaters.
The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
The waters rose, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters.
The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered.
The waters flooded the earth one hundred fifty days.
God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.
The waters continually receded from the earth. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters receded.
The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible.
and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth.
He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,
but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned into the ship to him, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.
The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.
In the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
I will establish my covenant with you: All flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Yahweh’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.
Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
The water in the container was spent, and she put the child under one of the shrubs.
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the container with water, and gave the boy a drink.
Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.
Behold, I am standing by the spring of water. The daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
The servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please give me a drink, a little water from your pitcher.”
The man came into the house, and he unloaded the camels. He gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
behold, I am standing by this spring of water. Let it happen, that the maiden who comes out to draw, to whom I will say, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,”
Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.
The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”
He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.
and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.
Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”
Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he is going out to the water. You shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him. You shall take the rod which was turned to a serpent in your hand.
Yahweh says, “In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
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