H4194 — מָוֶת (maveth)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4194
Original: מָוֶת
Transliteration: mâveth
Pronunciation: maw'-veth
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: מוּת (muwth, H4191) — to die
Occurrences: 153 unique verses (170 tokens) across 27 books
First Occurrence: Gen 21:16 — "Let me not see the death (maveth) of the child"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H4191 muwth; death (natural or violent); concretely, the dead, their place or state (hades); figuratively, pestilence, ruin:—(be) dead(-ly), death, die(-d).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
death (all forms)	~140	92%
died / dieth / dead	~12	8%
to die / to slay	~5	3%
deadly	1	<1%
the deaths	1	<1%

Nearly all renderings are "death" with varying prepositions and possessives ("of death" 26v, "death" 22v, "the death" 20v, "from death" 10v). The word is semantically narrow — almost exclusively "death."

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Jonah	2	4.2
Ecclesiastes	5	2.3
Proverbs	19	2.1
Habakkuk	1	1.8
2 Samuel	10	1.4
Psalms	22	0.9
Deuteronomy	9	0.9
2 Kings	6	0.8
Jeremiah	11	0.8
2 Chronicles	6	0.7
1 Samuel	6	0.7
Job	8	0.7
Numbers	8	0.6
Isaiah	8	0.6
Esther	1	0.6
Lamentations	1	0.6
Genesis	7	0.5
Joshua	3	0.5
Judges	3	0.5
Hosea	1	0.5
Ezekiel	5	0.4
Leviticus	3	0.3
1 Kings	2	0.2
1 Chronicles	2	0.2
Exodus	1	0.1
Ruth	2	—
Song of Solomon	1	—

Distributed broadly across Wisdom (Proverbs 19, Job 8, Ecclesiastes 5), Prophets (Jeremiah 11, Isaiah 8, Ezekiel 5), Historical (2 Samuel 10, Deuteronomy 9), and Psalms (22). Highest density in Proverbs (2.1/100v), reflecting its life-versus-death moral framework.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Physical Death as Biographical Marker¶

Temporal formula "after the death of X" marks transitions of leadership or era. - Gen 25:11 — "after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac" - Josh 1:1 — "after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD" - Judg 1:1 — "after the death of Joshua... the children of Israel asked the LORD" - 2 Ki 1:1 — "Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab"

2. Death as Legal Penalty / Judgment¶

The word marks crimes warranting capital punishment and God's judicial acts. - Deut 21:22 — "if a man have committed a sin worthy of death" - Deut 22:26 — "in the damsel no sin worthy of death" - Jer 26:11 — "this man is worthy to die [maveth]" - Jer 26:16 — "this man is not worthy to die [maveth]"

3. Death Personified / as Cosmic Power¶

Death appears as an active agent — seizing, feeding, making covenants. - 2 Sam 22:5 — "the waves of death compassed me" - Psa 49:14 — "death shall feed on them" - Psa 55:15 — "let death seize upon them" - Isa 28:15 — "we have made a covenant with death" - Jer 9:21 — "death is come up into our windows" - Song 8:6 — "love is strong as death"

4. Death vs. Life as Moral/Covenantal Contrast¶

The word stands opposite chayyim (life) in the two-ways framework. - Deut 30:15 — "I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil" - Deut 30:19 — "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing" - Prov 18:21 — "death and life are in the power of the tongue" - Jer 21:8 — "I set before you the way of life, and the way of death"

5. Deliverance from Death¶

YHWH delivers the faithful soul from death — a recurring Psalms motif. - Psa 33:19 — "to deliver their soul from death" - Psa 56:13 — "thou hast delivered my soul from death" - Psa 116:8 — "thou hast delivered my soul from death" - Prov 10:2 — "righteousness delivereth from death" - Prov 11:4 — "righteousness delivereth from death"

6. Death as Realm / Destination¶

Spatial metaphors: gates, chambers, paths, and snares of death. - Job 38:17 — "have the gates of death been opened unto thee?" - Psa 9:13 — "thou that liftest me up from the gates of death" - Psa 107:18 — "they draw near unto the gates of death" - Prov 7:27 — "her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death" - Prov 13:14 — "the snares of death"

7. Death Defeated / Swallowed Up¶

Prophetic eschatological vision of death's overthrow. - Isa 25:8 — "he will swallow up death in victory" (quoted 1 Cor 15:54) - Hos 13:14 — "I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues" (quoted 1 Cor 15:55)

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
חַי (chay)	H2416	23x	"life and death" contrast — Deut 30:15, 19; Prov 18:21
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	19x	"death of the king" / temporal marker after a king dies
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh)	H5315	17x	"deliver my soul from death" — Psa 33:19, 56:13, 116:8
שְׁאוֹל (she'owl)	H7585	15x	death + Sheol as parallel pair — 2 Sam 22:6, Psa 18:5, Isa 28:15
מוּת (muwth)	H4191	14x	cognate verb intensifying: "die the death" / "worthy of death"
אָב ('ab)	H1	13x	"after the death of his father" — succession formula

Word Family / Cognates¶

H4191 מוּת (muwth) — root verb: to die (825v)
H4192 מוּת (Muwth) — "death" in Psalm title (Psa 48:14 superscription)
H4193 מוֹת (mowth) — Aramaic cognate: death (1v, Dan 2:24 area)
H8546 תְּמוּתָה (temuwthah) — execution, death as a doom (2v)

Synonyms¶

H10 אֲבַדֹּון (abaddown) — Abaddon / destruction (realm of the dead)
H7585 שְׁאוֹל (she'owl) — Sheol, the grave, the underworld

Antonyms¶

H2416 חַיִּים (chayyim) — life, living

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
מוּת (muwth)	H4191	"death," "died," "die"	H4191 is the verb "to die"; H4194 is the noun "death" as state/concept
מוֹת (mowth)	H4193	"death"	Aramaic equivalent of H4194, only in Daniel
תְּמוּתָה (temuwthah)	H8546	"death"	Specifically execution/doom (Psa 79:11, 102:20)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
θάνατος (thanatos)	G2288	97	27.43	Primary — overwhelming default rendering
τελευτή (teleute)	G5054	8	15.58	Decease — biographical/temporal uses
ᾅδης (hades)	G86	17	15.33	When maveth = realm of the dead
ἀποθνήσκω (apothnesko)	G599	35	13.12	Verbal rendering — "he died"
ζωή (zoe)	G2222	12	8.79	Antithetical context — "life vs. death"
τελευτάω (teleutao)	G5053	6	7.31	"to finish life" — narrative death
ὠδίν (odin)	G5604	4	7.08	"pangs/sorrows of death" — Psa 18:4/116:3

The maveth-thanatos bridge is extremely strong (97 co-occurrences, PMI 27.43). Thanatos (G2288) is the near-exclusive Greek rendering, making the cross-testament continuity tight.