Hebrew intg · H4970
מָתַי
mathaymaw-thah'ee
how
43 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: mâthay
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H4970is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 17 of 39Old Testament books
- 16spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H4970
properly, extent (of time); but used only adverbially (especially with other particle prefixes), when (either relative or interrogative)
The King James renders it: long, when.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
mathay is rendered "how". It stands 43 times in the Hebrew text, across seventeen books.
- Thirteen of the uses stand in Psalms, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 30:30Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”
- The Greek text spells it sixteen different ways.
The first use
Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”
Genesis 30:30מָתַ֛י
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- when41
- and when1
- to when1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
The words it stands beside
All 43, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
16 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- מָתַ֖י8
- מָתַ֥י7
- מָתַי֙5
- מָתַ֛י3
- מָתַ֣י3
- מָתַ֗י3
- מָתַ֞י3
- מָ֝תַ֗י2
- מָתַ֕י2
- וּמָתַ֣י1
- לְמָתַ֣י׀1
- מָ֭תַי1
and 4 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- question particle41HTi
- conjunction (“and”) + question particle1HC/Ti
- preposition + question particle1HR/Ti
Genesis
one use
Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”
- מָתַ֛יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Exodus
three uses
Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me. When shall I pray for you and your officials and your people that the frogs (except for those in the Nile) may be taken away from you and your houses?”
- לְמָתַ֣י׀lemataipreposition + question particletagged: to when
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- מָתַ֣יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?”
- מָתַי֙mataiquestion particletagged: when
Numbers
one use
“How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
- מָתַ֗יmataiquestion particletagged: when
1 Samuel
two uses
and said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine!”
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”
- מָתַי֙mataiquestion particletagged: when
2 Samuel
one use
Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”
- מָתַי֙mataiquestion particletagged: when
1 Kings
one use
Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.
- מָתַ֞יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Nehemiah
two uses
Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.
- מָתַ֛יmataiquestion particletagged: when
- וּמָתַ֣יumataiconjunction (“and”) + question particletagged: and when
Job
one use
When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
- מָתַ֣יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Psalms
thirteen uses
My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long?
- מָתָֽי׃mataiquestion particletagged: when
My enemies say with malice: “When will he die and be forgotten?”
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
- מָתַ֣יmataiquestion particletagged: when
O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
- מָתָ֑יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
- מָ֝תַ֗יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
I will ponder the way that is blameless— when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.
- מָ֭תַיmataiquestion particletagged: when
My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How many days must Your servant wait? When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?
- מָתַ֬יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Proverbs
four uses
“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- מָתַ֣י׀mataiquestion particletagged: when
How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
- מָ֝תַ֗יmataiquestion particletagged: when
“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
- מָתַ֥יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Isaiah
one use
Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Jeremiah
seven uses
Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- מָתַ֛יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn?
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, “He cannot see what our end will be.”
- מָתַי֙mataiquestion particletagged: when
Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?
- מָתַ֗יmataiquestion particletagged: when
How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter a man.”
- מָתַי֙mataiquestion particletagged: when
The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Daniel
two uses
Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”
- מָתַ֞יmataiquestion particletagged: when
One of them said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the fulfillment of these wonders?”
- מָתַ֖יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Hosea
one use
He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?
- מָתַ֕יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Amos
one use
asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
- מָתַ֞יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Habakkuk
one use
Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’
- מָתַ֕יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Zechariah
one use
Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
- מָתַ֗יmataiquestion particletagged: when
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.