What does מְלָאכָה · גָּדוֹל mean in the Bible?
מְלָאכָה · גָּדוֹל: Work as purposeful task or craft—never mere servitude; emphasizes skill, agency, and productive results.
Hebrew · H4399, H1419
מְלָאכָה
Properly, deputyship , i.e. ministry ; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor) · great (in any sense); hence, older ; also insolent
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Words in this compound — expand to study each participant
מְלָאכָה H4399 properly, deputyship , i.e. ministry ; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)
גָּדוֹל H1419 great (in any sense); hence, older ; also insolent
What does מְלָאכָה (melakah gedolah) mean in the Bible?
מְלָאכָה · גָּדוֹל: Work as purposeful task or craft—never mere servitude; emphasizes skill, agency, and productive results.
Full entry for מְלָאכָה (H4399, H1419) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How many biblical occurrences are listed for H4399, H1419?
H4399, H1419 is connected to 697 lexical occurrence verses in the lexicon data.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew phrase. Work as purposeful task or craft—never mere servitude; emphasizes skill, agency, and productive results.
Source Gloss
properly, deputyship , i.e. ministry ; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)
Extended definition
Work as purposeful task or craft—never mere servitude; emphasizes skill, agency, and productive results.
business, cattle, industrious, occupation, ( -pied), officer, thing (made), use, (manner of) work((-man), -manship).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Sampled Scripture Occurrences
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
Old Testament Witnesses
Nehemiah 6:1-14 great work
A significant or weighty task.
Word Origins
מְלָאכָה is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Nehemiah’s refusal to leave the wall underscores the gravity of covenant restoration. Nehemiah 6:1-14
Canonical Themes
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain