Rain
מָטַרStrong’s H4306matar (ma-tar)
Appears in 36 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Matar is the Hebrew word usually translated “rain”, “rain of” and “like the rain”. It appears in 36 verses of the Old Testament.
“Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.”
Meaning
- Rain
How it's translated
- rain 15
- for the rain 5
- and rain 4
- rain of 4
- like the rain 2
- the rain 1
- to rain of 1
- from rain 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Deuteronomy 6
- Job 6
- 1 Kings 4
- 2 Chronicles 3
- Psalms 3
- Isaiah 3
12 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Exodus 9:33And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
- Exodus 9:34And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
- Deuteronomy 11:11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
- Deuteronomy 11:14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
- Deuteronomy 11:17And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
- Deuteronomy 28:12The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
Hebrew dictionary
מָטַר matar · rain
rain
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “rain” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
RAIN, verb intransitive
[It seems that rain is contracted from regen. It is the Gr. to rain to water, which we retain in brook, and the Latins, by dropping the prefix, in rigo, irrigo, to irrigate. The primary sense is to pour out, to drive forth. Heb.]
- To fall in drops from the clouds, as water; used mostly with it for a nominative; as, it rains; it will rain; it rained, or it has rained.
- To fall or drop like rain; as, tears rained at their eyes.
All definitions and other forms of “rain”
RAIN, verb transitive
To pour or shower down from the upper regions, like rain from the clouds.
- “Then said the Lord to Moses, behold I will rain bread from heaven for you” Exodus 16:4“God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating” Job 20:23“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and horrible tempest” Psalms 11:6
RAIN, noun
The descent of water in drops from the clouds; or the water thus falling. rain is distinguished from mist, by the size of the drops, which are distinctly visible. When water falls in very small drops or particles, we call it mist, and fog is composed of particles so fine as to be not only indistinguishable, but to float or be suspended in the air.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.