H4820 — מִרְמָה (mirmah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H4820
Original: מִרְמָה
Transliteration: mirmah
Pronunciation: meer-maw
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: רָמָה (ramah) — to deceive, deal treacherously
Occurrences: 38 unique verses (41 tokens) in OT
Books: 12
First Occurrence: Gen 27:35 — "And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From רָמָה (ramah) in the sense of deceiving; fraud: — craft, deceit(-ful, -fully), false, feigned, guile, subtilly, treachery.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
deceit	9	23.7%
and deceit	3	7.9%
deceitful	3	7.9%
deceitfully	3	7.9%
of deceit	3	7.9%
false	2	5.3%
and deceitful	2	5.3%
craft	1	2.6%
deceits	1	2.6%
feigned	1	2.6%
guile	1	2.6%
treachery	1	2.6%
with subtilty	1	2.6%
Other (and, by deceit, through deceit, with deceit, the deceitful, etc.)	7	18.4%

Dominant rendering: "deceit" and its inflected forms account for ~70% of all occurrences.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	14	0.57
Proverbs	8	0.87
Jeremiah	3	0.22
Genesis	2	0.13
Job	2	0.19
Daniel	2	0.56
Hosea	2	1.02
Amos	1	0.68
Micah	1	0.95
Zephaniah	1	1.89
2 Kings	1	0.14
Isaiah	1	0.08

Highest density in the Minor Prophets (Zephaniah, Hosea, Micah) and Proverbs. The Psalms carry the most raw occurrences (14 of 38 verses, 37%). Wisdom and prophetic literature dominate; the word appears in narrative only three times (Genesis, 2 Kings). The only occurrences outside poetry and prophecy are the patriarchal narratives (Gen 27, 34) and the Jehu narrative (2 Ki 9).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Deceit of the Tongue / Speech¶

The largest cluster. Mirmah is repeatedly associated with the tongue, lips, and mouth as instruments of deception. - Psa 10:7 — "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity." - Psa 34:13 — "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." - Psa 50:19 — "Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit." - Psa 52:4 — "Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue." - Jer 9:8 — "Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit."

2. Fraudulent Commerce / False Balances¶

A concrete, economic application — falsified weights and measures. - Pro 11:1 — "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight." - Pro 20:23 — "Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good." - Hos 12:7 — "He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress." - Amos 8:5 — "making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit"

3. Deceit as Inner Character / Counsel¶

Mirmah as what fills the heart or governs the plans of the wicked. - Pro 12:5 — "The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit." - Pro 12:20 — "Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil." - Pro 14:8 — "The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit." - Pro 26:24 — "He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him."

4. Political / Military Treachery¶

Deliberate, strategic deception in statecraft and warfare. - 2 Ki 9:23 — "And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah." - Dan 8:25 — "And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand." - Dan 11:23 — "And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully." - Gen 34:13 — "And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully."

5. Absence of Deceit (the Righteous / the Innocent)¶

Where mirmah is negated or denied — marking moral integrity. - Psa 17:1 — "Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips." - Psa 24:4 — "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." - Isa 53:9 — "because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" - Job 31:5 — "If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit"

6. Corporate / National Deceit¶

Deceit characterizing an entire community or institution. - Jer 5:27 — "As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit." - Jer 9:6 — "Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD." - Hos 11:12 — "Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit." - Zep 1:9 — "I will punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit."

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
לָשׁוֹן (lashon)	H3956	6x	"tongue of deceit" / "deceitful tongue" — speech organ as instrument
פֶּה (peh)	H6310	6x	"mouth" paired with deceit — oral deception
מֹאזֵן (mozen)	H3976	5x	"balances of deceit" — fraudulent commercial scales
רַע (ra)	H7451	4x	"evil" alongside deceit — moral pairing
דָבַר (dabar)	H1696	7x	"speak" + deceit — verbal deception pattern
אָוֶן (aven)	H205	3x	"iniquity/vanity" paired with deceit
אֶבֶן (eben)	H68	3x	"stone" (i.e., weight stones) — false weights context
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh)	H5315	3x	"soul/person" — deceit affecting the whole person
קֶרֶב (qereb)	H7130	3x	"midst/inward part" — deceit dwelling within

The tongue/mouth cluster (lashon + peh = 12 co-occurrences) is the dominant collocation pattern. The commercial fraud cluster (mozen + eben = 8 co-occurrences) is second.

Synonyms¶

H3577 כָּזָב (kazab) — falsehood, lie (literal untruth)
H3585 כַּחַשׁ (kachash) — lying, deception (denial, disowning)
H8267 שֶׁקֶר (sheqer) — falsehood, deception, sham (the broadest "lie" word)
H8496 תֹּךְ (tok) — oppression, fraud, deceit (rare; injury through fraud)

Antonyms¶

H4941 מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) — justice, judgment, ordinance
H7965 שָׁלוֹם (shalom) — peace, completeness, welfare

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רְמִיָּה (remiyyah)	H7423	"deceit," "deceitful," "deceitfully"	remiyyah emphasizes slackness/negligence alongside treachery; mirmah focuses on active, deliberate fraud
שֶׁקֶר (sheqer)	H8267	"deceit," "deceitful," "false"	sheqer is the broadest lie/falsehood word (113v); mirmah is narrower, stressing calculated deception for gain
תׇּרְמָה (tormah)	H8649	"deceit"	tormah (5v) is a rare synonym from the same root family; nearly identical meaning but much less frequent
כָּזָב (kazab)	H3577	"false"	kazab denotes a factual lie or fabrication; mirmah denotes strategic, ongoing deceitfulness
חָמָס (chamas)	H2555	"false"	chamas means violence/wrong; shares "false" translation only in "false witness" contexts

Semantic Domain¶

[002001003007] False — domain neighbors: חלק (H2505/2506 "smooth/flattering"), חָלָק (H2509-2511 "smooth")

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score
δόλος (dolos)	G1388	21	8.53
δόλιος (dolios)	G1386	10	8.15
ζυγός (zygos)	G2218	6	6.19
γλῶσσα (glossa)	G1100	6	5.08
στόμα (stoma)	G4750	6	3.34
ἄδικος (adikos)	G94	3	4.50
κακός (kakos)	G2556	4	3.20

The LXX overwhelmingly renders mirmah with δόλος (dolos, "guile/deceit") — 21 of 38 verses. The adjectival form δόλιος (dolios, "guileful/deceitful") accounts for 10 more. Together they cover ~82% of LXX renderings. The remaining mappings (zygos "yoke/balance," glossa "tongue," stoma "mouth") reflect the LXX translating the collocating phrase rather than the word itself.