Anointed ; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah
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מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) means anointed one, a person marked out for an office or task through anointing. The Hebrew Bible applies it to an anointed priest in Leviticus, to Israel's kings, to the Davidic ruler in royal psalms, and to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1.
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Full entry for מָשִׁיחַ (H4899) · Open the biblical lexicon
מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) means anointed one, a person marked out for an office or task through anointing. The Hebrew Bible applies it to an anointed priest in Leviticus, to Israel's kings, to the Davidic ruler in royal psalms, and to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1.
The BSB source-word alignment has 39 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include anointed (12), His anointed (3), Your anointed one (3), My anointed ones (2), the Messiah (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 4:3. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Samuel (12), Psalms (10), 2 Samuel (6), Leviticus (4).
מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) means anointed one, a person marked out for an office or task through anointing. The Hebrew Bible applies it to an anointed priest in Leviticus, to Israel's kings, to the Davidic ruler in royal psalms, and to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1. The lexical meaning therefore cannot be reduced to one referent, even though the English title Messiah carries later and specifically christological force.
First Samuel repeatedly calls Saul the Lord's anointed, and David refuses to strike him while Saul remains king. Those texts establish respect for the Lord's appointment within that narrative; they do not declare Saul morally infallible or place every later leader beyond correction. Psalm 2 speaks of the Lord and his anointed king amid the rebellion of nations, forming a royal text that the New Testament explicitly applies to Jesus.
Isaiah 45:1 calls Cyrus the Lord's anointed as God commissions a foreign ruler for a defined historical purpose. Daniel 9:25-26 refers to an anointed one in a difficult chronological prophecy whose referent and sequence are disputed across interpreters. A source companion should present the lexical fact and canonical significance without claiming that the Hebrew noun alone resolves those debates.
Mashiach names people consecrated or appointed for priestly, royal, or divinely assigned work. The recurring Davidic use and royal promises build messianic expectation, while priestly and Cyrus uses preserve the noun's wider Old Testament range.
The anointed priest bears responsibility within the sin-offering legislation.
David refuses to harm Saul as the Lord's anointed despite Saul's violent pursuit.
The nations' rulers gather against the Lord and his anointed royal figure.
Cyrus is called the Lord's anointed as God appoints him for a historical deliverance purpose.
The prophecy refers to an anointed ruler within a contested chronology that requires more than lexical resolution.
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. One anointed by God for a divinely appointed office; ultimately Israel's promised king-deliverer.
One anointed by God for a divinely appointed office; ultimately Israel's promised king-deliverer.
anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah BDB: anointed Usage: anointed, Messiah.
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 3 selected witnesses from 39 lexical occurrence verses.
מָשִׁיחַ is built from this root:
Demonstrates that God appoints even foreign rulers for his purposes.Isaiah 45:1-7
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Mashiach gives a congregation the biblical background of the title Messiah while protecting that title from careless flattening. Priests, Saul, Davidic kings, and even Cyrus can be called anointed within their particular offices or assignments. That range shows that anointed status means appointment and responsibility, not moral perfection or immunity from rebuke.
At the same time, royal psalms and Davidic promises create a real canonical trajectory that the New Testament explicitly centers on Jesus as the Christ. A sermon should name the immediate Old Testament referent before moving to fulfillment and should be candid where Daniel 9 remains disputed. This discipline strengthens rather than weakens christological preaching: Jesus is confessed as the final Christ because of the whole canonical witness and the New Testament's claims, not because a word-study quietly replaces every earlier anointed person with him.
Ps.2.2
Mashiach is related to the verb H4886, to anoint. Greek christos is the usual translation family behind the title Christ, but immediate reference still depends on context.
Acts 4:25-27 directly uses Psalm 2 in relation to Jesus, and the New Testament consistently confesses Jesus as the Christ. This explicit canonical use governs Christian fulfillment claims.