מָצָאmâtsâʼ

attain to, find

Pronunciation: maw-tsaw' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H4672

Meanings

Qal

1. find

a. thing sought (Exodus 5:11; Genesis 26:32; Genesis 26:19)

b. what is lost, missed (Genesis 31:32; Genesis 31:33; Genesis 31:34)

c. meet, encounter (Genesis 32:20; 2 Kings 9:21; Jeremiah 41:12)

d. find a condition, find one in a situation (Deuteronomy 22:14; Deuteronomy 22:17; Deuteronomy 24:1)

e. = learn, devise (Ecclesiastes 7:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29)

f. = experience (Psalms 116:3; Ecclesiastes 7:14)

2. find out

a. find out thoroughly, explore (Job 11:7; Job 37:23; Ecclesiastes 3:11)

b. = detect (2 Kings 17:4; 1 Samuel 29:3; 1 Samuel 29:6)

c. = guess (Judges 14:12; Judges 14:18; Proverbs 8:12)

3. = come upon, light upon

a. happen upon, often unexpectedly = (Genesis 44:8; 2 Kings 22:8; 2 Kings 23:24)

b. hit (1 Samuel 31:3; 1 Chronicles 10:3; Deuteronomy 19:5)

c. subject hand (Isaiah 10:14; Isaiah 10:10; 1 Samuel 23:17)

d. subject fire (Exodus 22:5)

e. befall (Joshua 2:23; Genesis 44:34; Deuteronomy 4:30)

4. noteworthy phrases are (Judges 9:33; 1 Samuel 10:7; Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Niph`al: be found, passive of Qal (1 Samuel 13:22; Jeremiah 48:27; Jeremiah 50:24)

1.

a. of a thing lost (1 Samuel 9:20; 1 Samuel 10:2; 1 Samuel 10:16)

b. of thing found unexpectedly (2 Kings 22:13; 2 Kings 23:2; 2 Chronicles 34:21)

c. = be lighted upon, encountered (2 Kings 12:6; Judges 20:48; 2 Kings 25:19)

d. be found (Nehemiah 13:1; Esther 6:2; Daniel 12:1)

e. = appeared, were recognized (Jeremiah 15:16)

f. of persons sought (Genesis 18:29; Genesis 18:30; Genesis 18:21)

g. = be discovered, detected (Exodus 22:3; 1 Samuel 25:28; 1 Kings 1:52)

h. = be gained, secured (Hosea 14:9; Genesis 26:12; Ecclesiastes 11:1)

i. = be discoverable, to be found (Job 42:15; Daniel 1:19; Isaiah 55:6)

2. be found

a. = one happens to have (1 Samuel 9:8; 1 Samuel 13:22; 1 Samuel 23:4)

b. = be in the possession of (Deuteronomy 21:17; Exodus 35:23; Exodus 35:24)

c. be found in (Genesis 47:14; 2 Kings 12:11; 2 Kings 12:19)

d. = be left (1 Samuel 13:19; 2 Samuel 17:13; Isaiah 30:14)

e. = be present (Genesis 19:15; 1 Samuel 13:15; 1 Samuel 13:16)

f. = prove to be (1 Chronicles 24:4; 2 Chronicles 2:16; Psalms 46:2)

3. be (found) sufficient (Joshua 17:16; Zechariah 10:10; Numbers 11:22)

Hiph`il

1. cause to find, attain (Job 34:11)

2. cause to light upon, come upon, come (Job 37:13)

3. cause to encounter (2 Samuel 3:8; Zechariah 11:6)

4. present (Leviticus 9:12; Leviticus 9:13; Leviticus 9:18)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 455 times in the Bible.

Genesis 2:20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
Genesis 4:14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
Genesis 4:15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor with the Lord.
Genesis 8:9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside.
Genesis 11:2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).