Lexicon
מֵעֶה
me.eh
H4578
H:N-M Hebrew

belly

32
Occurrences
13
Books
Hebrew
Language

me.eh denotes the bodily interior, and in some contexts the source of offspring or the seat of stirred feeling.

The term most often identifies the physical interior of a body, especially where it is filled, injured, diseased, or contains food. It also marks the bodily source of children and offspring, and it can describe inward agitation, yearning, or compassion.

Senses in use

  1. Physical interior and internal organs · dominant

    In 2 Chronicles 21:15 the APB renders a sickness affecting the bowels and says that they come out; 2 Samuel 20:10 similarly describes a sword blow after which intestines pour out. The term also occurs where the stomach is filled in Ezekiel 3:3, food turns within it in Job 20:14, and Jonah prays from the fish's interior in Jonah 2:1.

  2. Bodily origin of children and offspring · common

    In Genesis 15:4 the APB renders the promised heir as one who will come out of Abram's bodily interior, while Genesis 25:23 places two nations in Rebekah's womb and inward parts. The same relation appears when a descendant is promised in 2 Samuel 7:12 and when offspring are described in Isaiah 48:19.

  3. Inward stirring in distress or compassion · common

    In Jeremiah 4:19 the APB renders the speaker's bodily interior as writhing amid the alarm of war, and Lamentations 1:20 renders it as churning in distress. Isaiah 63:15 places the stirring of inward parts alongside compassion, while Song of Songs 5:4 describes inward parts stirred in response to the beloved.

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously presents the term with expressions such as "bowels," "stomach," "womb," "inward parts," and "belly." These are verse-level renderings rather than a fixed word-by-word correspondence.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture