Belly
מְעָאStrong’s H4578meah (me-ah)
Appears in 30 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Meah is the Hebrew word usually translated “inward parts my”, “from inward parts your” and “from inward parts of”. It appears in 30 verses of the Old Testament.
“And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”
Meaning
- External belly, abdomen
How it's translated
- inward parts my 9
- from inward parts your 3
- from inward parts of 3
- bowels his 2
- bowels your 2
- lower parts his 2
- inward parts your 2
- in inward parts your 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- 2 Chronicles 4
- Isaiah 4
- 2 Samuel 3
- Psalms 3
- Genesis 2
- Job 2
13 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 25:23And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
- Numbers 5:22And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
- Ruth 1:11And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
- 2 Samuel 7:12And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
- 2 Samuel 16:11And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him.
- 2 Samuel 20:10But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.
Hebrew dictionary
מְעָא meah · belly
external belly, abdomen Aramaic of me.eh (מֵעֶה "belly" H4578)
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “belly” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
BEL'LY, noun
- That part of the human body which extends from the breast to the thighs, containing the bowels.
- The part of a beast, corresponding to the human belly
- The womb. Jeremiah 1:5
- The receptacle of food; that which requires food, in opposition to the back.“Whose god is their belly” Philippians 3:19
All definitions and other forms of “belly”
- The part of any thing which resembles the human belly in protuberance or cavity, as of a harp or a bottle.
- Any hollow inclosed place; as the belly of hell, in Jonah.
- In scripture, belly is used for the heart. 20.30. Proverbs 18:8John 7:38Romans 16:18Philippians 3:19Titus 1:12
BEL'LY, verb transitive
To fill; to swell out.
BEL'LY, verb intransitive
To swell and become protuberant, like the belly; as bellying goblets; bellying canvas.
- To strut.
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.