To spurn ; also (intransitively) to disappear
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H3988 describes refusing, rejecting, despising, or treating someone or something as unworthy, with contexts ranging from rejecting Gods rule and instruction to refusing wise correction. The verb can name covenant rebellion, a ruler losing office, contempt for discipline, or the LORD rejecting what has become corrupt; subject, object, and stated cause must remain explicit.
Reader summary
Full entry for מָאַס (H3988) · Open the biblical lexicon
H3988 describes refusing, rejecting, despising, or treating someone or something as unworthy, with contexts ranging from rejecting Gods rule and instruction to refusing wise correction. The verb can name covenant rebellion, a ruler losing office, contempt for discipline, or the LORD rejecting what has become corrupt; subject, object, and stated cause must.
The BSB source-word alignment has 76 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include has rejected (5), reject (5), you have rejected (5), they have rejected (4), to reject (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 26:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (12), Job (12), Isaiah (10), 1 Samuel (9).
H3988 describes refusing, rejecting, despising, or treating someone or something as unworthy, with contexts ranging from rejecting Gods rule and instruction to refusing wise correction. The verb can name covenant rebellion, a ruler losing office, contempt for discipline, or the Lord rejecting what has become corrupt; subject, object, and stated cause must remain explicit.
In 1Sam. 8. 7, the Lord tells Samuel that Israels demand for a king rejects divine kingship rather than merely rejecting Samuels leadership. In 1Sam. 15. 23, samuel links Sauls rejection of the word of the Lord with his rejection from the entrusted office of king. H3988 opens teaching on what rejection reveals about allegiance, especially when people refuse Gods word, leaders abandon entrusted obedience, or hearers despise needed correction.
It corrects casual claims that every human rejection is divine rejection and authoritarian uses of biblical warning that identify disagreement with a leader as rejection of God. H3988 exposes weighty refusals without collapsing them: Israel asks for a king and thereby rejects the LORDs kingship, Saul rejects the word of the Lord and is rejected as king, and wisdom warns a child not to despise divine discipline.
For H3988, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. The verb does not prove that every excluded person is condemned, authorize communities to shame those who set boundaries, or make a leaders preferences equivalent to the word of the Lord.
H3988 appears across passages that develop rejection, covenant fidelity, divine kingship, accountable leadership, instruction, correction, and the danger of contempt. For H3988, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
The Lord tells Samuel that Israels demand for a king rejects divine kingship rather than merely rejecting Samuels leadership.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”
Samuel links Sauls rejection of the word of the Lord with his rejection from the entrusted office of king.
My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord, and do not loathe His rebuke;
Wisdom tells a son not to reject the LORDs discipline or loathe the correction that follows covenant love.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Active rejection of God's word or covenant; carries moral revulsion and often irreversible alienation or dissolution.
Active rejection of God's word or covenant; carries moral revulsion and often irreversible alienation or dissolution.
to spurn; also (intransitively) to disappear BDB: flow Usage: abhor, cast away (off), contemn, despise, disdain, (become) loathe(some), melt away, refuse, reject, reprobate, × utterly, vile person.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 76 lexical occurrence verses.
מָאַס is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Priestly rejection of knowledge results in divine rejection.Hosea 4:4-10
Israel rejected covenant good.Hosea 8:1-7
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H3988 exposes weighty refusals without collapsing them: Israel asks for a king and thereby rejects the LORDs kingship, Saul rejects the word of the Lord and is rejected as king, and wisdom warns a child not to despise divine discipline. H3988 describes refusing, rejecting, despising, or treating someone or something as unworthy, with contexts ranging from rejecting Gods rule and instruction to refusing wise correction.
The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: 1Sam. 8. 7 shows that the Lord tells Samuel that Israels demand for a king rejects divine kingship rather than merely rejecting Samuels leadership. , while 1Sam. 15. 23 shows that samuel links Sauls rejection of the word of the Lord with his rejection from the entrusted office of king.. Prov. 3. 11 adds that wisdom tells a son not to reject the LORDs discipline or loathe the correction that follows covenant love..
H3988 opens teaching on what rejection reveals about allegiance, especially when people refuse Gods word, leaders abandon entrusted obedience, or hearers despise needed correction. It corrects casual claims that every human rejection is divine rejection and authoritarian uses of biblical warning that identify disagreement with a leader as rejection of God. A church teaching H3988 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support.
The verb does not prove that every excluded person is condemned, authorize communities to shame those who set boundaries, or make a leaders preferences equivalent to the word of the Lord.
1Sam.8.7
H3988 is a Hebrew verb for rejecting, refusing, or despising; some older glosses include disappearing or melting, but ordinary covenant and wisdom contexts usually identify a concrete rejected object.
Old Testament narratives, prophets, and wisdom texts trace rejection of Gods rule, word, statutes, knowledge, and correction. The New Testament announces the rejected Messiah while warning churches not to reproduce contempt toward vulnerable people or faithful testimony.