Properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist ; transitively, to attain , i.e. find or acquire ; figuratively, to occur , meet or be present
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Māṣāʾ means to find — to come upon something, to discover, to attain, or to encounter. The word covers the whole range from incidental discovery (someone finds a lost object) to intentional seeking with a result (the one who seeks God and finds him).
Reader summary
Full entry for מָצָא (H4672) · Open the biblical lexicon
Māṣāʾ means to find — to come upon something, to discover, to attain, or to encounter. The word covers the whole range from incidental discovery (someone finds a lost object) to intentional seeking with a result (the one who seeks God and finds him).
The BSB source-word alignment has 455 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include found (22), I have found (22), . . . (13), find (10), and found (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (56), 1 Samuel (39), 2 Chronicles (28), Proverbs (27).
Māṣāʾ means to find — to come upon something, to discover, to attain, or to encounter. The word covers the whole range from incidental discovery (someone finds a lost object) to intentional seeking with a result (the one who seeks God and finds him). It is one of the most theologically rich verbs in the Hebrew Bible precisely because it appears at the junction between human searching and divine initiative.
When the Proverbs says 'the one who finds me finds life,' wisdom speaks in God's voice about the outcome of genuine seeking. When Jeremiah promises that Israel will find God when they seek him with all their heart, the verb is at the center of covenant renewal. When Ruth finds herself in Boaz's field 'by chance' (2. 3, lit. her chance chanced upon her), māṣāʾ carries the idea of providential encounter — what looks like finding is arranged by God.
The word also appears in contexts of assessment and reckoning: a king finds no fault in a servant (Joseph in Egypt), a prophet finds sin in Jerusalem. To find in the negative sense is to discover and judge what was hidden. High-frequency Hebrew verbs like this one carry a remarkable range of registers, and māṣāʾ participates in them all: ordinary discovery, providential encounter, wisdom attained, covenant renewal, and divine assessment.
Māṣāʾ appears in the local Hebrew index about 457 times across the Hebrew Bible with enormous range. It occurs in narrative contexts (something or someone is found), in wisdom contexts (wisdom is found through seeking), in covenant-renewal contexts (Israel will find God when they seek), in priestly and royal assessment contexts (finding fault or finding favor), and in the Psalms and prophets as the vocabulary of divine encounter.
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
This verse from the letter to the exiles is one of the most theologically significant uses of māṣāʾ in the prophets. The promise is precise: seeking with the whole heart is the condition, finding is the guarantee. The context (exile in Babylon) means this is not a vague religious comfort. It is a covenant promise given to a people who have lost temple, city, and land. God will still be found.
For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the Lord.
Wisdom speaks in the first person: to find wisdom (through māṣāʾ) is to find life itself. The connection between wisdom, life, and the Lord's favor creates a theological complex around the verb. Finding wisdom is not an intellectual achievement but a covenantal attainment — it brings the seeker into favor with God.
At this, she fell on her face, bowing low to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?”
The phrase māṣāʾ ḥēn (find grace/favor) is one of the most common idiom compounds with māṣāʾ. Ruth's discovery of favor in Boaz's eyes is simultaneously ordinary social grace and, in the narrative's unfolding, the beginning of God's redemptive provision. The incidental-seeming encounter (Ruth 2.3) is providentially arranged.
I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.
The image of finding great spoil (māṣāʾ) applied to God's word is vivid: the same delight a warrior feels when discovering unexpected plunder, the psalmist feels when encountering the word of God. The word's discovery is unexpected, abundant, and joy-producing — more than what was sought.
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
Isaiah's invitation uses the Niphal (passive) of māṣāʾ — God makes himself findable, is in a position to be found. The urgency of the call implies that there are seasons of findability and seasons when the door closes. The invitation is both promise (he can be found) and warning (do not presume on perpetual availability).
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. From existence or appearance to discovery: finding what comes forth or becomes present to the seeker.
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 4 selected witnesses from 457 lexical occurrence verses.
מָצָא is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Māṣāʾ is a word that sits at the boundary between human effort and divine gift. The one who seeks finds — but only because God is findable, has made himself accessible, has given his word as the place where he is encountered. Jeremiah 29:13 does not say that sufficiently intense searching produces God as a result of human religious effort. It says that God promises to be found by those who seek with their whole heart.
The promise is God's, not the achievement. This distinction matters pastorally. People in spiritual desolation often fear they are not seeking hard enough, or that they have missed something, or that God is genuinely absent. The great māṣāʾ texts speak against that fear without dismissing the call to genuine seeking. Isaiah says 'seek while he may be found' with urgency, not because God's findability is in question but because human responsiveness is not guaranteed.
The Prodigal's father runs to meet the returning son — the son is still on the way when the father sees him. The finding is prepared for and initiated from the father's side. Preaching from this word should resist two errors: the error of treating spiritual encounter as pure passivity (God will find you without your seeking), and the error of treating it as pure achievement (seek enough and you will produce an encounter).
The verb holds both: real seeking, real finding, real divine initiative that makes the finding possible.
Jer.29.13
Māṣāʾ functions in two primary patterns: active (someone finds something) and passive/Niphal (something is found, or God is findable). The compound māṣāʾ ḥēn (to find grace/favor) is one of the most common idiom units in the Hebrew Bible, appearing in Genesis (Noah), Exodus (Moses), Ruth, and elsewhere. The phrase describes the experience of receiving gracious regard from a more powerful party — the encounter where unexpected favor is granted.
The word also functions in legal and evaluative contexts: a judge or king māṣāʾs guilt or innocence in someone brought before them. Finding is thus not only discovery but assessment.
Jesus' 'ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened' (Matt. 7. 7) is the New Testament's direct use of the seek-find theology that māṣāʾ carries through the Old Testament. The Greek heuriskō (to find) carries the same movement from human seeking to divinely enabled discovery. The three parables of the lost in Luke 15 extend the māṣāʾ logic: the shepherd finds the sheep, the woman finds the coin, the father receives the returning son.
In each case, the finding is enabled by someone's initiative. God's movement toward those who seek him is more fundamental than the seeking itself. Paul's testimony about his own conversion — 'I was found by those who did not seek me' (Rom. 10. 20, quoting Isa. 65. 1) — is the extreme form: God findable by those not even looking, grace extending beyond the seekers.
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