BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H4464
mam.zer — bastard
1) bastard, child of incest, illegitimate child 1a) bastard 1b) mixed population (fig.) 1c) born of a Jewish father and a heathen mother or visa versa
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →GREEK · G3541
nothos — illegitimate
νόθος, -η, -ον [in LXX: Wis.4:3 * ;] a bastard, base born, i.e. born of a slave or concubine: Heb.12:8.† (AS)
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →In the Old Testament the rendering of the Hebrew word mamzer’, which means “polluted.” In Deut. 23:2, it occurs in the ordinary sense of illegitimate offspring. In Zech. 9:6, the word is used in the sense of foreigner. From the history of Jephthah we learn that there were bastard offspring among the Jews (Judg. 11:1-7). In Heb. 12:8, the word (Gr. nothoi) is used in its ordinary sense, and denotes those who do not share the privileges of God’s children.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
