Properly, something dug , i.e. a (general) source (of water, even when naturally flowing; also of tears, blood (by euphemism, of the female pudenda ); figuratively, of happiness, wisdom, progeny)
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מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring or fountain — the source from which water flows. In the OT's most significant theological uses, YHWH himself is the maqor: the fountain of living waters whose forsaking by Israel is the fundamental covenant-catastrophe, and the opened fountain of Zechariah 13:1 that cleanses from sin and impurity.
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Full entry for מָקוֹר (H4726) · Open the biblical lexicon
מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring or fountain — the source from which water flows. In the OT's most significant theological uses, YHWH himself is the maqor: the fountain of living waters whose forsaking by Israel is the fundamental covenant-catastrophe, and the opened fountain of Zechariah 13:1 that cleanses from sin and impurity.
The BSB source-word alignment has 18 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include is a fountain (4), the fountain (3), a fountain (2), and make her springs (1), from her flow (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 12:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (7), Jeremiah (4), Leviticus (3), Psalms (2).
מָקוֹר (maqor) is a spring or fountain — the source from which water flows. In the OT's most significant theological uses, YHWH himself is the maqor: the fountain of living waters whose forsaking by Israel is the fundamental covenant-catastrophe, and the opened fountain of Zechariah 13:1 that cleanses from sin and impurity.
Jeremiah 2:13 gives the maqor its most concentrated theological form: 'For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters (maqor mayim chayyim), and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.' The two-evil indictment is perfectly structured: the first evil is forsaking the maqor (YHWH as the source of life); the second evil is replacing him with cisterns (human-constructed water-storage that cannot hold water). The broken cistern is not a criticism of seeking water elsewhere — it is an image of the futility of replacing the living fountain with a self-made substitute that will ultimately fail.
Jeremiah 17:13 repeats the maqor-identity: 'O YHWH, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken YHWH, the fountain of living water (maqor mayim chayyim).' The parallel between 'hope of Israel' (miqveh Yisrael, from qavah — hope/waiting) and 'fountain of living water' is built into the verse: what Israel waits for is the same as what Israel forsakes when it turns away. YHWH is the source of the water that sustains — to turn from him is to turn from the only permanent source.
Psalm 36:9 gives the maqor its richest form: 'For with you is the fountain of life (maqor chayyim); in your light we see light.' The maqor chayyim (fountain of life, spring of life) is paired with light: to be at YHWH's maqor is to see by his light. The fullness of verse 8 leads into this: 'They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights (nachal adaneikha).' The fountain and the river are both images of YHWH's overflowing life given to those who shelter in him (v. 7).
Zechariah 13:1 gives the maqor its eschatological-cleansing form: 'On that day there shall be a fountain opened (maqor niftach) for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.' The opened maqor of the last day is the divine answer to the impurity that pervades Jerusalem after the slaughter of the shepherd (Zech 12:10: 'they will look on me, whom they have pierced, and they will mourn'). The maqor niftach that flows from YHWH in the end-day cleanses what Torah-observance could not permanently address.
For the preacher, מָקוֹר (maqor) asks: where is the soul drinking? Jeremiah 2:13's two-evil structure is the diagnostic: YHWH as the living maqor forsaken for broken cisterns is Israel's story, and it is the church's temptation in every generation.
מָקוֹר (maqor) is currently indexed about 18 times in the local Hebrew index. Its theological center is YHWH as maqor mayim chayyim (fountain of living waters, Jer 2:13, 17:13) and maqor chayyim (fountain of life, Ps 36:9) — the source of all life and the covenant-alternative to self-constructed cisterns. Zechariah 13:1's maqor niftach (opened fountain) gives the word its eschatological-cleansing form: the divine spring opened in the last day to cleanse sin.
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
YHWH as the forsaken maqor mayim chayyim: the two-evil structure is the heart of Jeremiah's indictment of Israel's idolatry. The first evil is abandonment of the source; the second is the futile construction of a replacement. The 'broken cisterns that can hold no water' (borot nishbarim asher lo yakhilu ha-mayim) is the image of every human substitute for YHWH: it requires effort to construct, it appears to be a solution, and it ultimately fails at the moment of greatest need.
John 4:10-14 gives the NT form: Jesus offers 'living water' (hudor zon) to the Samaritan woman — the same phrase as maqor mayim chayyim — and promises that 'whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again... a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'
For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
The maqor chayyim (fountain of life) paired with light: 'ki imkha maqor chayyim, be-orkha nireh or (for with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light).' The parallelism is theologically precise: YHWH is the source of both water and light — the two primary needs for life. Verse 7-8 gives the context: YHWH's hesed (steadfast love) is the refuge under which humans and animals shelter; the abundance of his house is where they feast and drink.
The maqor chayyim is not available to those who approach YHWH at arm's length — it flows to those who take refuge (chasah) in him (v. 7).
O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.
The maqor mayim chayyim as the ground of Israel's hope: 'YHWH miqveh Yisrael (hope of Israel), all who forsake you shall be ashamed; they who turn from me shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken YHWH, the maqor mayim chayyim.' The wordplay between miqveh (hope, from qavah — to wait/hope) and maqor (fountain, from qur — to dig/spring) frames YHWH as the object of both hope and thirst.
To forsake the maqor is to forsake the miqveh: there is no hope outside the fountain. The judgment image ('written in the earth' rather than in the book of life) is the reversal of those 'enrolled among the living' (Isa 4:3).
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
The eschatological maqor niftach (opened fountain): 'ba-yom ha-hu yihyeh maqor niftach le-veit David u-le-yoshvei Yerushalayim le-chattat u-le-niddah (on that day there shall be an opened fountain for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness).' The opened maqor of Zechariah 13:1 follows the pierced-one lament of 12:10 — the cleansing fountain flows from the same event as the mourning for the one pierced.
John 19:34 ('one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water') is read in the early church as the fulfillment of Zechariah 13:1: the maqor niftach flows from the wounded side of Christ.
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
The maqor of marital blessing: 'yehi maqorkha barukh u-semach me-eshet neurekha (let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth).' Proverbs 5:15-23 uses the maqor image for the faithfulness of marriage: 'Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well' (v. 15); the sexual and relational fidelity of marriage is the blessed maqor.
The contrast with the adulterous woman (v. 3-8) shows the two-maqor structure of Proverbs 5: the forbidden spring leads to death (v. 5: 'her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol'); the blessed maqor of one's own wife is the life-giving alternative. The maqor-image thus bridges the cosmic (YHWH as the living fountain, Jer 2:13) and the domestic (marital fidelity as the blessed household spring).
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. Source of life-sustenance or blessing, from literal water-springs to figurative origins of wisdom, joy, and lineage.
Source of life-sustenance or blessing, from literal water-springs to figurative origins of wisdom, joy, and lineage.
properly, something dug, i.e. a (general) source (of water, even when naturally flowing; also of tears, blood (by euphemism, of the female pudenda); figuratively, of happiness, wisdom, progeny) BDB: spring Usage: fountain, issue, spring, well(-spring).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 18 lexical occurrence verses.
מָקוֹר is built from this root:
The metaphor portrays righteous speech as a continual source of life and refreshment. Proverbs 10:11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
מָקוֹר (maqor) is one of the OT's most structurally important images for the soul's deepest need and deepest temptation. Jeremiah 2:13's two-evil indictment is the structure: YHWH is the living fountain (maqor mayim chayyim), and Israel's covenant-failure is precisely described as (1) forsaking the living fountain and (2) replacing it with broken cisterns. Every generation faces the same two evils: the turn away from YHWH as the source, and the compensatory construction of self-made water-systems that will ultimately fail.
The broken cistern is not always obviously broken at the moment of construction. It appears to be a solution: a relationship, an achievement, an ideology, a religious system built to replace the living spring. It holds water for a while. It fails when the need is greatest. Psalm 36:9's maqor chayyim (fountain of life paired with light) gives the positive: those who shelter under YHWH's hesed (v.
7) Find the fountain and the light as simultaneous gifts. Zechariah 13:1's maqor niftach (opened fountain) gives the eschatological: the cleansing spring that opens for Jerusalem on the day of mourning for the pierced one is the maqor-promise in its final form. John 4:10-14 gives Christ as the living water that becomes 'a spring of water welling up to eternal life' — the NT's explicit claim that Jesus is the maqor mayim chayyim.
Jer.17.13
מָקוֹר (maqor, H4726) derives from the root קוּר (qur — to dig, to bore through) or possibly from a cognate meaning 'to arise, flow.' BDB notes that maqor and מַעְיָן (ma'yan, H4599 — spring, fountain) are near-synonyms but distinguishable: maqor tends to emphasize the source (the point of origin from which water rises), while ma'yan tends to emphasize the spring as a feature of landscape (a spring in a specific place).
The phrase maqor mayim chayyim (fountain of living waters) appears twice in Jeremiah (2:13, 17:13) and is the most theologically loaded use of the word. The adjective chayyim (living, flowing) distinguishes running spring-water from still or stagnant water — the maqor chayyim is fresh, flowing, life-giving. In NT Greek, the heir is pege (G4077 — spring, well, fountain): John 4:6 (Jacob's well is pege), John 4:14 ('a spring of water [pege hudatos] welling up to eternal life'), Rev 7:17 ('the Lamb will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water [epi zosas pegas hudaton]'), Rev 21:6 ('I will give from the spring of the water of life [ek tes peges tou hudatos tes zoes] without payment').
John 4:10-14 is the most explicit NT engagement with the maqor-theology: Jesus tells the Samaritan woman 'if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water (hudor zon).' The same phrase as Jeremiah's maqor mayim chayyim appears in Greek form. Jesus goes further: 'Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.
The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water (pege hudatos) welling up to eternal life.' The maqor that Israel forsook (Jer 2:13) has now arrived in person and offers himself as the inexhaustible fountain. John 7:37-38 extends this: 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'
Revelation 21:6 and 22:1-2 give the maqor its eschatological-city form: 'the river of the water of life (potamon hudatos zoes), bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.' The maqor niftach of Zechariah 13:1 flows permanently from the throne in the new Jerusalem. The broken cisterns of Jeremiah 2:13 are replaced forever.
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