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Hebrew

Work

מְלָאכָהStrong’s H4399

melakhah (me-la-khah)

Appears in 149 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Melakhah is the Hebrew word usually translated “work”, “work of” and “work his”. It appears in 149 verses of the Old Testament.

“And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.”
Daniel 8:27 KJV
Meaning
  1. Occupation, work, businessoccupation, business · erty · work (something done or made) · workmanship · service, use · public business
How it's translated
  • the work 44
  • work of 35
  • work 33
  • work his 7
  • for the work 5
  • workmanship 4
  • into a product 4
  • work your 3

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Exodus 27
  • Nehemiah 20
  • 1 Chronicles 19
  • Leviticus 15
  • 2 Chronicles 14
  • Numbers 8

21 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 149 verses, by book
Deuteronomy 3
5:135:1416:8
Judges 1
16:11
1 Samuel 2
8:1615:9
Esther 2
3:99:3
Psalms 2
73:28107:23
Proverbs 3
18:922:2924:27
Daniel 1
8:27
Jonah 1
1:8
Haggai 1
1:14
Hebrew dictionary

מְלָאכָה melakhah · work

1) occupation, work, business 1a) occupation, business 1b) property 1c) work (something done or made) 1d) workmanship 1e) service, use 1f) public business 1f1) political 1f2) religious

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “work” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

WORK, verb intransitive

[G., Gr.]

  1. In a general sense, to move, or to move one way and the other; to perform; as in popular language it is said, a mill or machine works well.
  2. To labor; to be occupied in performing manual labor, whether severe or moderate.
  3. To be in action or motion; as the working of the heart.
  4. To act; to carry on operations.
All definitions and other forms of “work”
  1. To operate; to carry on business; to be customarily engaged or employed in.“They that work in fine flax” Isaiah 19:9
  2. To ferment; as, unfermented liquors work violently in hot weather.
  3. To operate; to produce effects by action or influence.“All things work together for good to them that love God” Romans 8:28
  4. To obtain by diligence. [Little used.]
  5. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels; as a cathartic.
  6. To labor; to strain; to move heavily; as, a ship works in a tempest.
  7. To be tossed or agitated.
  8. To enter by working; as, to work into the earth.

WORK, verb transitive

  1. To move; to stir and mix; as, to work mortar.
  2. To form by labor; to mold, shape or manufacture; as, to work wood or iron into a form desired, or into an utensil; to work cotton or wool into cloth.
  3. To bring into any state by action.
  4. To influence by acting upon; to manage; to lead.
  5. To make by action, labor or violence.
  6. To produce by action, labor or exertion.
  7. To embroider; as, to work muslin.
  8. To direct the movements of, by adapting the sails to the wind; as, to work a ship.
  9. To put to labor; to exert.
  10. To cause to ferment, as liquor.
  11. To effect by labor and exertion.“WORK out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Philippians 2:12
  12. To expend in any work as materials.

WORK, noun

[G., Gr.]

  1. Labor; employment; exertion of strength; particularly in man, manual labor.
  2. State of labor; as, to be at work
  3. Awkward performance.
  4. That which is made or done; as good work or bad work
  5. Embroidery; flowers or figures wrought with the needle.
  6. Any fabric or manufacture
  7. The matter on which one is at work In rising she dropped her work
  8. Action; deed; feat; achievement; as the works of bloody Mars.
  9. Operation.
  10. Effect; that which proceeds from agency.
  11. Management; treatment.
  12. That which is produced by mental labor; a composition; a book; as the works of Addison.
  13. Works, in the plural, walls, trenches and the like, made for fortifications.
  14. In theology, moral duties or external performances, as distinct from grace.

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.