H4726 H4726
A spring or fountain; literally a water source, figuratively the origin of life, wisdom, blessing, or purification; also a bodily flow of blood.
In the Hebrew Bible, this noun evokes the image of a living spring welling up from the earth. Jeremiah twice calls the LORD the 'fountain of living waters' (Jer 2:13; 17:13), and Proverbs applies the same image to the mouth of the righteous, the fear of the LORD, and a wellspring of wisdom. The multilingual evidence is illuminating: German consistently renders it Quelle ('source, spring'), Spanish Fuente de, and French source de, all preserving the 'origin' metaphor. In Levitical purity law, the same word shifts to the bodily flow of blood, a concrete physiological sense that stands apart from the figurative spring imagery.
1. spring, fountain, source — A spring or fountain of water, used overwhelmingly in figurative contexts. God himself is called the 'fountain of living waters' (Jer 2:13; 17:13), and Psalm 36:9 declares 'with you is the fountain of life.' Proverbs extends the metaphor to wisdom, teaching, and the fear of the LORD as life-giving sources (Prov 10:11; 13:14; 14:27). The German Quelle and French source consistently capture this origin-point nuance. Zechariah 13:1 envisions a fountain opened for cleansing from sin -- a purification spring that resonates across all the translation traditions. 16×
AR["مِنْ-يَنْبوعِ","مِنْ-يَنْبُوعِ","وَ-مَصْدَرٌ","يَنبوعُهُ","يَنْبوعَ","يَنْبوعُ","يَنْبُوعٌ","يَنْبُوعَ","يَنْبُوعَهَا","يَنْبُوعُ","يَنْبُوعُكَ"]·ben["-উৎস-থেকে","উৎস","উৎস-","উৎস-থেকে","এবং-উৎস","ঝর্ণা","তার-উৎস","তার-উৎসকে","তোমার-ঝরনা"]·DE["Quelle","ist-Brunnen-von","und-Quelle","von-der-Brunnen-von","von-source-von"]·EN["a-fountain","a-fountain-of","and-a-fountain","fountain-of","from-source-of","from-the-fountain-of","her-spring","his-spring","is-a-fountain-of","is-fountain-of","the-fountain","your-fountain"]·FR["de-source","de-source-de","et-source","source","ton-source-toi"]·heb["ו-מקור","מ-מקור","מ-מקר","מקור","מקורה","מקורו","מקורך"]·HI["उसका-स्रोत","उसके-सोते","और-कुआं","और-शुद्ध होगी","सोता","सोता-तेरा","सोते","स्रोत"]·ID["Mata-air","Sumber","adalah-sumber","dan-sumber","dari-mata-air","dari-sumber","mata-air","mata-airmu","mata-airnya","sumber"]·IT["[מקור]","[מקורו]","da-source-di","e-e-un-fountain","fonte","fountain-di","sorgente","tuo-fountain-tuo","un-fountain-di","è-un-fountain-di"]·jav["lan-sumber","saking-sumber","sumber","sumber-nipun","sumber-panjenengan","sumber-saking","sumberipun","sumur"]·KO["그리고-우물이니라","그의-샘이","네-우물-이","샘-에서","샘-을","샘-이다","샘으로","샘을","샘을-그녀의","샘이","샘이니라","에서-샘","원천-이"]·PT["Fonte-de","da-fonte-de","de-fonte-de","e-manancial","está-a-fonte-de","fonte","fonte-de","fonte-dele","sua-fonte","tua-fonte"]·RU["и-родник","источник","источник-его","источник-твой","от-источника"]·ES["Fuente-de","de-fuente-de","desde-fuente-de","fuente","fuente-de","su-manantial","tu-fuente","y-fuente"]·SW["chanzo-cha","chemchemi","chemchemi-ya","chemchemi-yake","chemchemi-yako","kutoka-chanzo-cha","kutoka-chemchemi","na-chanzo","ni-chemchemi-ya"]·TR["kaynağı","kaynağıdır","kaynağın","kaynağından","kaynağından-","kaynağını","pınar","ve-kaynak"]·urd["اور-سرچشمہ","اُس-کا-چشمہ","سے-چشمے","مِن-چشمے","چشمہ","چشمہ-تیرا"]
Lev 12:7, Ps 36:9, Ps 68:26, Prov 5:18, Prov 10:11, Prov 13:14, Prov 14:27, Prov 16:22, Prov 18:4, Prov 25:26, Jer 2:13, Jer 9:1 (+4 more)
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. flow, bodily issue — A bodily flow or discharge, specifically the flow of blood in the context of Levitical purity regulations (Lev 20:18). Here the concrete hydraulic image of a spring is transferred to the human body. Spanish fuente de and English 'flow of' both reflect this shift from natural spring to physiological emission, marking a distinct semantic domain from the figurative 'source of life' usage. 2×
AR["يَنْبُوعَ","يَنْبُوعَهَا"]·ben["উৎস","তার-উৎস"]·DE["flow-ihr","flow-von"]·EN["flow-her","flow-of"]·FR["flow-de","flow-sa"]·heb["מקור","מקרה"]·HI["उसके-स्रोत","स्रोत"]·ID["sumber","sumbernya"]·IT["flow-di","flow-lei"]·jav["tuk","tuk-ipun"]·KO["그녀의-근원","근원-의"]·PT["fonte-de","sua-fonte"]·RU["источник","источник-её"]·ES["fuente","fuente-de"]·SW["chanzo-cha-","chanzo-chake"]·TR["kaynağını"]·urd["اُس-کا-سرچشمہ","سرچشمہ"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† מָקוֹר n.m. Zc 13:1 spring, fountain (app. orig. well);—abs. מ׳ Zc 13:1; Pr 25:26; cstr. מְקוֹר Je 2:13 +, מְקֹר Lv 12:7; 20:18; sf. מְקוֹרוֹ Ho 13:15, etc.;— 1. spring of water: a. fig., of י׳, מ׳ מַיִם חַיִים Je 2:13; 17:13, cf. חַיִּים" dir="rtl" >מ׳ חַיִּים ψ 36:10; מ׳ חַיִּים (more gen.), Pr 10:11; 13:14; 14:27; 16:22 + 18:4 (so read for מ׳ חָכְמָה 𝔊 Heb Codd Toy). b. fig. of purification…