# H4191 - mut **Strong's:** [H4191](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h4191/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** mooth (Hebrew *mût*) **Part of speech:** verb (the standard biblical-Hebrew verb for "to die") **Frequency:** ~835 occurrences across the Hebrew Bible, among the most-used verbs in the OT, distributed across narrative, legal, prophetic, and wisdom genres. **LXX equivalent:** primarily ἀποθνῄσκω (*apothnēskō*, G599), *lexicon entry queued*; also θνῄσκω, θανατόω (*thanatoō*, "to put to death"). **Cognate noun:** *mavet* (H4194, מָוֶת), "death"; the nominal form from the same root. *Lexicon entry queued.* ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs / HALOT) The verb's meaning shifts by binyan (Hebrew verbal stem). The semantic range covers physical death, judicial execution, eschatological death, and (via metaphor / extension) spiritual death and figurative dying. ### Qal (intransitive, "to die") 1. **Die a natural death**, the standard usage: "Abraham breathed his last and *died*" ([Gen 25:8](/codex/genesis-25-8/)); "Sarah *died* in Kiriath-arba" ([Gen 23:2](/codex/genesis-23-2/)). 2. **Die a violent / judicial death**, by another's hand or by divine judgment: "the man *who has eaten of the tree* shall surely *die*" ([Gen 3](/codex/genesis-3/), fulfilled across [Gen 5](/codex/genesis-5/)); "the soul that sins, it shall *die*" ([Ezek 18:4](/codex/ezekiel-18-4/), [20](/codex/ezekiel-18-20/)). 3. **Be near death / dying**, used of Jacob ([Gen 47:29](/codex/genesis-47-29/)), Moses ([Deut 31:14](/codex/deuteronomy-31-14/)), David ([1 Kgs 2:1](/codex/1-kings-2-1/)). 4. **Death as eschatological judgment**, "the *day* you eat of it you shall surely *die*" ([Gen 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/)); the foundational warning text for the Original-Sin / Federal-Headship apparatus. ### Hiphil (causative transitive, "to put to death / to kill") 5. **Kill / put to death**, the executive form: "I myself shall *put to death* and shall give life" ([Deut 32:39](/codex/deuteronomy-32-39/), divine prerogative); the standard verb in capital-punishment legal-formulae ("he shall be *put to death*", [Lev 20:9-16](/codex/leviticus-20-9-16/), [24](/codex/leviticus-20-24/):16-17, etc.); "Saul has *killed* his thousands, David his ten thousands" ([1 Sam 18:7](/codex/1-samuel-18-7/)). ### Hophal (passive of Hiphil, "to be put to death / to be killed") 6. **Be executed / killed by another agent**, passive of Hiphil; the standard formula in capital-punishment law: "the murderer shall *be put to death*" ([Num 35:16-21](/codex/numbers-35-16-21/)); "they shall *be killed*" ([Lev 20](/codex/leviticus-20/)). ### Polel / Polal (intensive, "to slay / be slain") 7. **Slay (with finality / completion)**, Polel: David to the Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul ([2 Sam 1:15](/codex/2-samuel-1-15/)); "you shall not *put to death* the children for the fathers" ([Deut 24:16](/codex/deuteronomy-24-16/)). 8. **Be slain**, Polal passive: "the slain *shall be slain*" ([Ezek 26:15](/codex/ezekiel-26-15/), figurative). ## Theological force *Mût* is the load-bearing death-verb of the Hebrew Bible and accordingly carries enormous theological weight. Five intersecting streams: ### Stream 1, The death-penalty of [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/) (the *mot tamut* construction) **[Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/)**, "in the day that you eat from it *mot tamut*" (מוֹת תָּמוּת), pairs the infinitive-absolute *mot* (the noun-form derived from the verbal root) with the imperfect *tamut* ("you will die"). This is the **infinitive-absolute construction**, the standard biblical-Hebrew device for **intensified certainty of judgment**. The construction's modal force is *certainly will die*, *absolutely will die*, *unfailingly will die*, emphasizing the **unavoidability of the future event, not its instantaneous execution.** The English idiom "you shall surely die" (KJV / NASB) attempts to capture this, the *surely* renders the certainty intensification, not a temporal qualifier. This construction matters apologetically: the surface-empirical objection ("they ate and didn't die that day") rests on a misreading of `mot tamut` as declaring immediacy when it actually declares certainty. Compare these other infinitive-absolute uses where immediacy is plainly NOT in view: - **[1 Samuel 14:39](/codex/1-samuel-14-39/)**, Saul: "*mot yumat*" ("he shall surely die"), judicial-oath of future execution, not immediate. - **[1 Kings 2:37](/codex/1-kings-2-37/)**, Solomon to Shimei: "in the day you cross the Kidron, know for certain that *mot tamut*" (you shall surely die), establishes a future-tripwire with no immediacy clause. - **[Ezekiel 3:18](/codex/ezekiel-3-18/), [33](/codex/ezekiel-3-33/):8**, the watchman texts: the wicked shall *mot yumat*, eschatological judgment, certainty of future event. The Hebrew language itself **guards the truth of God's warning** in [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/). See [Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/) for the verse-level deployment + the apologetic against "they ate and didn't die" surface-readings. ### Stream 2, Death as the wages of sin ([Romans 5:12](/codex/romans-5-12/) axis) Through *mût* in [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/), the Pauline apparatus of [Romans 5:12](/codex/romans-5-12/) ("through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin") establishes **death-via-Adam** as the doctrinal frame. Every subsequent use of *mût* in the OT, every funeral, every executed criminal, every battle-killed soldier, is a downstream realization of the [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/) *mot tamut*. Adam's death ([Gen 5:5](/codex/genesis-5-5/)) at 930 closes the demonstration: *mût* did indeed come. Cross-anchored at: - [Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/), the foundational warning - [Romans 5.12](/codex/romans-5-12/), the Pauline frame (LXX *apethanen* / *thanatos*) - [1 Corinthians 15:21-22](/codex/1-corinthians-15-21-22/), "for since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die (*apothnēskousin*), so also in Christ all shall be made alive" - [John 11.25](/codex/john-11-25/), the Christological reversal ### Stream 3, The capital-punishment apparatus of Mosaic Law The Hiphil ("put to death") and Hophal ("be put to death") forms of *mût* are the formula-verbs in **Mosaic capital-punishment legislation**. The construction *mot yumat* (the infinitive-absolute + Hophal), "he shall surely be put to death", recurs ~21× across Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy: - **[Exodus 21:12](/codex/exodus-21-12/), [15-17](/codex/exodus-21-15-17/)**, striking, kidnapping, cursing parents - **[Exodus 22:18-19](/codex/exodus-22-18-19/)**, sorcery, bestiality - **[Leviticus 20:2-16](/codex/leviticus-20-2-16/)**, Molech-worship, mediums, adultery, incest, homosexual acts - **[Leviticus 24:16-17](/codex/leviticus-24-16-17/)**, blasphemy, murder - **[Numbers 35:16-21](/codex/numbers-35-16-21/)**, premeditated murder - **[Deuteronomy 13:5-10](/codex/deuteronomy-13-5-10/); 17:2-7; 22:22, 25**, apostasy, idolatry, certain sexual offenses The repeated infinitive-absolute construction signals **judicial certainty**: the law's capital sanctions are absolute and non-negotiable when the established conditions are met. See [Mosaic Capital Punishment](/codex/mosaic-capital-punishment/) for the theological-ethical treatment + apologetic engagement with critics. ### Stream 4, Death as the boundary between covenant-modes The contrast *mût* / *ḥayah* ("die" / "live") is the load-bearing covenant-decision idiom: "I have set before you life and death... therefore choose life" ([Deut 30:19](/codex/deuteronomy-30-19/)); "the soul that sins, it shall die" / "the righteous shall live by his faith" ([Ezek 18:20](/codex/ezekiel-18-20/) / [Hab 2:4](/codex/habakkuk-2-4/)). The Pauline appropriation of [Hab 2:4](/codex/habakkuk-2-4/) across [Romans 1:17](/codex/romans-1-17/), [Galatians 3:11](/codex/galatians-3-11/), [Hebrews 10:38](/codex/hebrews-10-38/) makes this the key OT-NT bridge into the doctrine of justification. ### Stream 5, The metaphysical ground of the Resurrection apologetic If *mût* is universal, if every member of the Adamic race dies, then the Resurrection of Christ is the **categorically anomalous event** that ruptures the *mût*-universality. The OT death-vocabulary supplies the foil; the NT Resurrection vocabulary (ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω) supplies the answer. See [Argument from the Resurrection](/codex/argument-from-the-resurrection/). ## Notable verses (within and outside this codex) ### Original-Sin / Fall axis - **[Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/)**, *mot tamut*, "you will surely die", the foundational use of the infinitive-absolute construction - **[Genesis 3:3-4](/codex/genesis-3-3-4/)**, Eve's repetition + the serpent's contradiction (*lo mot temutun*, "you shall surely NOT die") - **[Genesis 5:5](/codex/genesis-5-5/)**, "all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, *and he died*", the empirical fulfillment of [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/) - **[Genesis 5](/codex/genesis-5/)** (genealogy), the refrain "and he *died*" repeats for every patriarch except Enoch, closing the demonstration of *mût* universality - **[Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/)**, "God is not a man (*ish*) that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind" ### Capital-punishment legal-formula - **[Exodus 21:12](/codex/exodus-21-12/)**, "he who strikes a man so that he dies (*wamet*) shall surely be put to death (*mot yumat*)" - **[Leviticus 20:2](/codex/leviticus-20-2/)**, Molech-worship: "the people of the land shall stone him with stones", *mot yumat* - **[Leviticus 24:16](/codex/leviticus-24-16/)**, blasphemy: "the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death (*mot yumat*)" - **[Numbers 35:30-31](/codex/numbers-35-30-31/)**, capital murder: cannot be redeemed by ransom ### Eschatological / spiritual-death usage - **[Ezekiel 3:18](/codex/ezekiel-3-18/)**, "if you do not warn the wicked... that wicked person shall die (*yamut*) in his iniquity" - **[Ezekiel 18:4](/codex/ezekiel-18-4/), [20](/codex/ezekiel-18-20/)**, "the soul that sins, it shall die" - **[Hosea 13:14](/codex/hosea-13-14/)**, "I will ransom them from the power of *Sheol*; I will redeem them from death (*mavet*)", quoted at [1 Cor 15:55](/codex/1-corinthians-15-55/) - **[Habakkuk 2:4](/codex/habakkuk-2-4/)**, "the righteous shall *live* by his faith", implicit antithesis to *mût* ### Davidic / royal death-and-life - **[2 Samuel 7](/codex/2-samuel-7/)**, David's longing to build the temple "before he dies" - **[1 Kings 2:1-10](/codex/1-kings-2-1-10/)**, "David's days drew near that he should die" - **[Isaiah 38](/codex/isaiah-38/)**, Hezekiah's near-death: "set your house in order, for you *die* and shall not live" ## Word-family connections - *mavet* (H4194, מָוֶת), the masculine noun "death," nominal form of the same root. ~150 occurrences. Personified as a power in [Hosea 13:14](/codex/hosea-13-14/), [1 Corinthians 15:54-55](/codex/1-corinthians-15-54-55/). Pairs with *Sheol* (the place of the dead). *Lexicon entry queued.* - *mowt* (H4193, מוֹת), the construct form / infinitive used in *mot tamut* and similar constructions. - *rephaim* (H7496, רְפָאִים), "the dead / shades" (Sheol-dwellers); pairs with *mût* in [Isaiah 14:9](/codex/isaiah-14-9/), [26](/codex/isaiah-14-26/):14, 26:19. *Lexicon entry queued.* - *sheol* (H7585, שְׁאוֹל), the underworld / abode of the dead. *Lexicon entry queued.* - *gava* (H1478, גָּוַע), "to expire / breathe last", synonym used in patriarchal death-narratives ([Gen 25:8](/codex/genesis-25-8/), [17](/codex/genesis-25-17/); 35:29; 49:33). *Lexicon entry queued.* ## LXX bridge (Greek-Hebrew correspondence) - **ἀποθνῄσκω** (*apothnēskō*), the standard rendering of Qal *mût* in the LXX; carries through into the NT (~111 NT occurrences; "for the wages of sin is death," [Rom 6:23](/codex/romans-6-23/), uses the cognate noun *thanatos*). - **θανατόω** (*thanatoō*), common rendering of the Hiphil "put to death." - **τελευτάω** (*teleutaō*), "come to an end / die"; less common, sometimes used in LXX for euphemistic / dignified-death contexts. - *thanatos* (G2288), the cognate Greek noun "death" in the NT; load-bearing for [Romans 5](/codex/romans-5/)-6, [1 Corinthians 15](/codex/1-corinthians-15/), [Hebrews 2](/codex/hebrews-2/). *Lexicon entry queued.* ## Patristic / theological notes - **Augustine, *De Civitate Dei* XIII.12-15**, distinguishes "first death" (separation of soul from body) from "second death" (separation of soul from God in eschatological judgment). [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/)'s *mot tamut* encompasses both, beginning with the spiritual rupture ([Gen 3:8](/codex/genesis-3-8/) hiding) and culminating in physical death ([Gen 5:5](/codex/genesis-5-5/)). - **Calvin, *Institutes* II.1.5-7**, [Genesis 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/)'s death-warning establishes the federal headship of Adam: "the spiritual death is plainly described where it is said that *they were severed from the life of God*"; physical death is the visible sign of the prior spiritual rupture. - **John of Damascus, *On the Orthodox Faith* II.30**, death as "the privation of life" rather than a positive substance; coheres with the Augustinian privation-theory of evil. ## Apologetic deployment - **Against "they ate and didn't die that day"**: deploy the infinitive-absolute construction analysis. *Mot tamut* declares certainty, not immediacy. The Hebrew construction itself rules out the surface-objection. Cross-cite [1 Sam 14:39](/codex/1-samuel-14-39/), [1 Kgs 2:37](/codex/1-kings-2-37/), [Ezek 3:18](/codex/ezekiel-3-18/) for parallel uses where immediacy is plainly not in view. - **Against "the death-warning was metaphorical / spiritual only, so no real penalty"**: distinguish the three modes (spiritual, physical, cosmic), spiritual death came immediately ([Gen 3:8](/codex/genesis-3-8/) hiding); physical death came eventually ([Gen 5:5](/codex/genesis-5-5/) fulfillment); cosmic curse came at [Gen 3:17-19](/codex/genesis-3-17-19/). All three are real; the warning was multi-modal. - **Against "Mosaic capital punishments are arbitrary divine cruelty"**: note the recurring *mot yumat* infinitive-absolute construction signaling judicial certainty; pair with [Mosaic Capital Punishment](/codex/mosaic-capital-punishment/) which engages the broader ethical apologetic. - **Against the universalist soft-reading of [Ezekiel 18](/codex/ezekiel-18/) ("the soul that sins shall die")**: the *yamut* in [Ezek 18:4](/codex/ezekiel-18-4/), [20](/codex/ezekiel-18-20/) carries the full *mût* semantic weight, final, eschatological, judicial. The text is not metaphor; it grounds the doctrine of human accountability under divine judgment. ## Verses in this codex *Rely on Obsidian's backlinks pane to surface verse pages that link to this entry. Notable verse-pages explicitly linking back: [Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/) (rich hub, deploys the *mot tamut* analysis), [Romans 5.12](/codex/romans-5-12/), [John 11.25](/codex/john-11-25/), [Genesis 5](/codex/genesis-5/), [Ezekiel 18](/codex/ezekiel-18/) / [Ezekiel 3](/codex/ezekiel-3/), [Numbers 23.19](/codex/numbers-23-19/) (all linkable as those pages mature).* ## See also - [Genesis 2.16-17](/codex/genesis-2-16-17/), the foundational rich-hub deployment of *mot tamut* - [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/), the doctrinal frame - [Federal Headship](/codex/romans-5-12-21/), Adam's representative role - [Mosaic Capital Punishment](/codex/mosaic-capital-punishment/), the *mot yumat* legislative cluster - [Argument from the Resurrection](/codex/argument-from-the-resurrection/), *mût* as the foil that the Resurrection ruptures - Lexicon Roadmap - [Bible Verses](/codex/bible-verses/)