ma.en denotes a deliberate declining of an appeal, instruction, action, offer, or change of course.

The attested verb describes withholding consent or action in response to a request, command, invitation, or expected course: people decline to listen, act, release, return, accept, or receive comfort. The same pattern also appears with a wound said to resist healing and hands that do not act.

1. Declining what is requested or expected · dominant

   The supplied Piel perfect and sequential-imperfect forms occur where a person or group does not comply with a stated appeal or course of action. In Exodus 4:23 the addressee does not let the son go; in 1 Samuel 8:19 the people do not listen to Samuel and demand a king; in Numbers 20:21 Edom does not grant Israel passage; in Genesis 37:35 Jacob does not accept comfort; and in Jeremiah 5:3 the people do not take discipline or return. In Jeremiah 15:18, the same wording is applied to an incurable wound in the clause the APB renders “refusing to be healed.”

   Exodus 4:231 Samuel 8:19Numbers 20:21Genesis 37:35Jeremiah 5:3Jeremiah 15:18

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across many clauses the APB uses “refused,” followed by an infinitive or action such as listening, coming, returning, acting, or letting someone go. Its contribution is less clear in verses such as Exodus 22:16, Jeremiah 9:5, and Psalm 77:3, where the supplied English does not plainly isolate the term.