matsa · find

What it means

matsa (מָצָא) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “find”.

Come upon; also obtain, reach; in the passive, be found, be present.

How to say it

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

1. To come upon what one seeks, or something not expected.
2. To meet someone on the road, or for trouble to fall upon him.
3. To find favor: to be well regarded by someone with power to give.
4. To be present in a place, or to be enough.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Find. BDB notes that the proper sense is “to come forth to, appear”, and from there to find, attain or be present.

• To find what one seeks Genesis 2:20Deuteronomy 4:29
• To “find favor in the eyes of” someone Genesis 6:8
• To be found, to be present in a place Genesis 18:26
• To overtake someone (evils, troubles) Deuteronomy 31:17

How we translate it

“Found” 267 times, “find” 129, “finds” 20, “who were present” 11. This edition translates מָצָא “find” consistently, also when troubles “find” someone (“many evils and troubles will find them”, Deuteronomy 31:17). “Find favor in the eyes of” is kept literally.

How it is translated

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

• found ×267
• find ×129
• finds ×20
• who were present ×11
• finding ×4
• handed ×4
• be enough ×2
• left ×2
• who are present ×2
• Whoever had ×1
• others ×13

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×56
• Exodus×22
• Leviticus×8
• Numbers×11
• Deuteronomy×25
• Joshua×4
• Judges×14
• Ruth×4
• 1 Samuel×39
• 2 Samuel×10
• 1 Kings×16
• 2 Kings×25
• 1 Chronicles×11
• 2 Chronicles×28
• Ezra×4
• Nehemiah×8
• Esther×8
• Job×19
• Psalms×19
• Proverbs×27
• Ecclesiastes×17
• Song of Songs×9
• Isaiah×18
• Jeremiah×26
• Lamentations×4
• Ezekiel×4
• Daniel×4
• Hosea×8
• Amos×1
• Jonah×1
• Micah×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 2:20

  And the man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper corresponding to him.

• Genesis 4:14

  Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your presence I will be hidden; and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”

• Genesis 4:15

  And YHWH said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And YHWH put a sign on Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him.

• Genesis 6:8

  But Noah found favor in the eyes of YHWH.

• Genesis 8:9

  But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of all the earth. And he reached out his hand and took her and brought her to himself into the ark.

• Genesis 11:2

  As they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

• Genesis 16:7

  The angel of YHWH found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

• Genesis 18:3

  He said, “Adonai, if I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant.

• Genesis 18:26

  YHWH said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

• Genesis 18:28

  Perhaps the fifty righteous will lack five; will you destroy for the five the whole city?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find there forty-five.”

• Genesis 18:29

  He spoke to him yet again and said, “Perhaps forty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

• Genesis 18:30

  Then he said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak: perhaps thirty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

• Genesis 18:31

  He said, “Look, I have ventured to speak to Adonai: perhaps twenty will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

• Genesis 18:32

  He said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak only this once: perhaps ten will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

• Genesis 19:11

  And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, from small to great, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance.

• Genesis 19:15

  As the dawn came up, the messengers urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the iniquity of the city.”

• Genesis 19:19

  Look, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have made great your loyal love that you have shown me by keeping me alive; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me and I die.

• Genesis 26:12

  Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in that year a hundredfold; and YHWH blessed him.

• Genesis 26:19

  Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living water.

• Genesis 26:32

  On that day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”

• Genesis 27:20

  Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because YHWH your Elohim made it happen before me.”

• Genesis 30:14

  In the days of the wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to Leah his mother. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of the mandrakes of your son.”

• Genesis 30:27

  Laban said to him, “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes— I have learned by divination that YHWH has blessed me because of you.”

• Genesis 31:32

  Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live. In the presence of our brothers, recognize for yourself what of yours is with me and take it for yourself.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

• Genesis 31:33

  So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave women, but he did not find them. He came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent.

• Genesis 31:34

  Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the saddle of the camel and sat on them. Laban felt through the whole tent but did not find them.

• Genesis 31:35

  She said to her father, “Do not let my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the teraphim.

• Genesis 31:37

  Now that you have felt through all my goods, what have you found of all the goods of your house? Put it here before my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us.

• Genesis 32:5

  I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male slaves, and slave women; and I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.’”

• Genesis 32:19

  He commanded also the second, also the third, and also all who were going after the herds, saying, “According to this word you shall speak to Esau when you find him.

• Genesis 33:8

  He said, “What do you mean by all this camp that I met?” He said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

• Genesis 33:10

  And Jacob said, “No, please! If indeed I have found favor in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand, since I have seen your face as one sees the face of Elohim, and you have received me favorably.

• Genesis 33:15

  Esau said, “Let me leave, please, with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why this? Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

• Genesis 34:11

  Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.

• Genesis 36:24

  These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the springs in the wilderness while he was pasturing the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

• Genesis 37:15

  A man found him, and look, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

• Genesis 37:17

  The man said, “They have set out from here, for I heard them saying, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

• Genesis 37:32

  They sent the long robe and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; recognize, please, whether it is the robe of your son or not.”

• Genesis 38:20

  Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite to take the pledge from the hand of the woman, but he did not find her.

• Genesis 38:22

  He returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her; and also the men of the place said, ‘There has been no sacred prostitute here.’”

And 415 more times.