מַטֶּה

mate · staff; tribe

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H4294 · appears 252 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?

Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

mate (מַטֶּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “staff; tribe”.

Staff, rod, branch. Elsewhere, tribe.

How to say it

ma·te

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

A straight stick used for support, as a weapon or as a sign of authority.
Literally "the rod": one of the twelve great clans of Israel.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Staff, rod; and also tribe. BDB defines it as a branch, and from there, figuratively, a tribe; and a rod for punishing, ruling, throwing or walking.

The staff of Moses and of Aaron Exodus 4:2 Exodus 4:17 Exodus 7:12
The staff that identifies its owner Genesis 38:18
A tribe of Israel Numbers 1:21
Both together: a staff for each tribe Numbers 17:2
“The staff of bread”: sustenance Leviticus 26:26

Historical and cultural background

In Numbers 17, each chief of a tribe hands in a staff with his name; that of Aaron, “for the house of Levi”, sprouts buds, blossoms and almonds (Numbers 17:8).

How we translate it

“Tribe” 163 times, “staff” 48, “tribes” 20, “rod” 8, “staffs” 6. This edition translates “staff” or “tribe” as the case requires, with a note in Numbers 17:2, where the two come together. “The staff of bread” is kept literally, with a note.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

tribe ×163
staff ×48
tribes ×20
rod ×8
staffs ×6
rods ×4
each ×1
scepter ×1
stick ×1

Where it appears

Genesis 38:18
He said, “What is the pledge that I shall give you?” She said, “Your seal, your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
Genesis 38:25
As she was being brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong I am pregnant.” And she said, “Recognize, please, whose these are: the seal, the cord, and the staff.”
Exodus 4:2
YHWH said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”
Exodus 4:4
Then YHWH said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and seize it by its tail.” So he stretched out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand,
Exodus 4:17
And this staff you shall take in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
Exodus 4:20
So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on the donkey and returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the staff of Elohim in his hand.
Exodus 7:9
“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a wonder for yourselves,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh; let it become a serpent.’”
Exodus 7:10
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did so, as YHWH had commanded; Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Exodus 7:12
Each man threw down his staff, and they became serpents; but the staff of Aaron swallowed their staffs.
Exodus 7:15
Go to Pharaoh in the morning; look, he is going out to the water. Station yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile, and the staff that was turned into a serpent you shall take in your hand.
Exodus 7:17
Thus says YHWH: “By this you will know that I am YHWH: look, I am going to strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be turned into blood.
Exodus 7:19
YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their pools, and over all the reservoirs of their water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
Exodus 7:20
Moses and Aaron did so, as YHWH had commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.
Exodus 8:5
YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.’”
Exodus 8:16
YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’”
Exodus 8:17
They did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on people and on animals; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
Exodus 9:23
Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and YHWH sent thunder and hail, and fire went down to the earth; and YHWH rained hail on the land of Egypt.
Exodus 10:13
So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and YHWH drove an east wind over the land all that day and all the night; when it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.
Exodus 14:16
And you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, so that the sons of Israel may go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.
Exodus 17:5
YHWH said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your staff, with which you struck the Nile, take in your hand, and go.
Exodus 17:9
Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of Elohim in my hand.”
Exodus 31:2
“See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,
Exodus 31:6
And I, look, have appointed with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all the wise of heart I have put wisdom, so that they make all that I have commanded you:
Exodus 35:30
And Moses said to the sons of Israel, “See, YHWH has called by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
Exodus 35:34
And the ability to teach he has put in his heart, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Exodus 38:22
And Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that YHWH had commanded Moses.
Exodus 38:23
And with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a designer, and an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet and in fine linen.
Leviticus 24:11
And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. Now the name of his mother was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
Leviticus 26:26
When I break for you the staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven and give back your bread by weight, and you will eat and not be satisfied.
Numbers 1:4
And with you there shall be a man from each tribe, each man head of his fathers’ house.
Numbers 1:16
These were the ones called from the community, the chiefs of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.
Numbers 1:21
those of them counted from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
Numbers 1:23
those of them counted from the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
Numbers 1:25
those of them counted from the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
Numbers 1:27
those of them counted from the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
Numbers 1:29
those of them counted from the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
Numbers 1:31
those of them counted from the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
Numbers 1:33
those of them counted from the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.
Numbers 1:35
those of them counted from the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
Numbers 1:37
those of them counted from the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

And 212 more times.