Lexicon
מִכְתָּב
mikh.tav
H4385
H:N-M Hebrew

writing

9
Occurrences
5
Books
Hebrew
Language

mikh.tav denotes written text, including letters, proclamations, headings, and inscriptions engraved on objects.

The term most often denotes a written text presented as a letter, proclamation, authored instruction, or heading; it also occurs for text engraved on tablets and on the gold plate of the holy crown.

Senses in use

  1. Written document or stated text · dominant

    In 2 Chronicles 21:12 the absolute form occurs where the APB renders that “A letter came” from Elijah. In 2 Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 1:1, the same form is set beside a proclamation sent throughout a kingdom “also in writing,” while Isaiah 38:9 introduces “A writing of Hezekiah.” The construct form in 2 Chronicles 35:4 occurs in the clause the APB renders “as written by David king of Israel and by Solomon his son.”

  2. Engraved writing on physical objects · common

    In Exodus 32:16, two absolute singular forms occur in the statement that the tablets and their writing were God's, with the writing engraved on the tablets. Deuteronomy 10:4 likewise places the form with what was written on tablets, and Exodus 39:30 uses the construct singular form where words were engraved on the gold plate “like the engraving of a signet.”

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term with “letter,” “writing,” and “written,” and it describes the tablet and crown contexts as engraving. These English expressions show the clauses' presentation rather than fixed individual renderings.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture