1. quickly, speedily, swiftly — The adverb מְהֵרָה (meherah) meaning 'quickly, speedily, swiftly, hastily', derived from the root mahar ('to hasten'). All 20 occurrences across the Hebrew Bible express the same adverbial concept of rapidity or urgency, used in contexts ranging from divine judgment ('quickly perish from the land', Deut 4:26, 11:17, 28:20) to urgent commands ('come down quickly', Deut 9:12; Judg 2:23) to prayers for swift deliverance (Ps 31:3, 69:18, 79:8, 102:3, 143:7; Isa 5:26, 58:8). The three clusters represent identical semantics with trivially different English glosses: 'quickly' (S110006, 18x), 'swiftly' (S110008, 1x), and 'speedily' (S110009, 1x). Multilingual translations confirm complete semantic overlap: spa 'pronto/rápido/rápidamente', hin 'जल्दी/शीघ्र/शीघ्रता से', arb 'سَرِيعًا/عاجِلًا', kor '빨리/속히', swa 'haraka/upesi/kwa haraka'. These are synonymous glosses of a single adverbial sense, not distinct meanings. 20×
AR["أَسْرِعْ","الشَّرِّ","سَريعاً","سَريعًا","سَرِيعاً","سَرِيعًا","عاجِلًا","مُسرِعاً","مُسْرِعًا","يَنْقَطِعُ"]·ben["তাড়াতাড়ি","দ্রুত","শীঘ্র","শীঘ্রই"]·DE["[במהרה]","[מהרה]","quickly","schnell","swiftly"]·EN["quickly","speedily","swiftly"]·FR["[מהרה]","dans-rapidement","de-hâte","quickly","rapidement","vite"]·heb["ב-מהרה","מהרה"]·HI["जलदि","जल्दी","शीघ्र","शीघ्रता-से"]·ID["Segeralah","cepat","cepatlah","dengan-cepat","dengan-segera","segera"]·IT["[מהרה]","in-fretta","in-quickly","presto","quickly","rapidamente"]·jav["en-ggal","enggal","enggal-sanget","énggal"]·KO["금히","빨리","속히"]·PT["depressa","muito-depressa","rapidamente","velozmente"]·RU["бежит","быстро","скорее","скоро","скоро,"]·ES["apresuradamente","prisa","pronto","rápidamente","rápido"]·SW["haraka","kwa-haraka","upesi"]·TR["cabucak","cabuk","hızla","hızlıca","yakında","çabucak","çabuk","çabukca","çabuklıkla"]·urd["جلد","جلدی","جلدی-سے","جلدی-کر","فوراً"]
Num 16:46, Deut 11:17, Josh 8:19, Josh 10:6, Josh 23:16, Judg 9:54, 1 Sam 20:38, 2 Sam 17:16, 2 Sam 17:18, 2 Sam 17:21, 2 Kgs 1:11, Ps 31:2 (+8 more)
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† מְהֵרָה n.f. haste, speed;—usually as adverb. acc. hastily, quickly: Jos 8:19; 10:6; 23:16 (all JE), Nu 17:11 (P), Dt 11:17; Ju 9:54; 2 S 17:16, 18, 21; Je 27:16; Ec 8:11 (in all these cases after vb.); before vb. (poet.) Is 5:26 (‖ קַל), ψ 31:3; 37:2 Is 58:8 Jo 4:4 (‖ קַל); so also 1 S 20:38 מ׳ הוּשָׁה (cf. Dr); 2 K 1:11 מ׳ רֵ֑דָה;—but perhaps read מַהֲרָה, i.e. Pi. Imv. of מהר (cf. 1 S 23:27); c. prep. (late): בִּמ׳ in haste = quickly Ec 4:12; עַד־מ׳, id. ψ 147:15.