Original Word: מָזוֹר
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: mazowr
Pronunciation: maw-zore'
Phonetic Spelling: (maw-zore')
KJV: bound up, wound
NASB: wound, sore
Word Origin: [from H2115 (זוּר - crush) in the sense of binding up]

1. a bandage, i.e. remedy
2. (hence) a sore (as needing a compress)

bound up, wound

Or mazor {maw-zore'}; from zuwr in the sense of binding up; a bandage, i.e. Remedy; hence, a sore (as needing a compress) -- bound up, wound.

see HEBREW zuwr

Word Origin
from zur
Definition
a wound
NASB Translation
sore (1), wound (2).

מָזוֺר noun [masculine] wound (as needing to have its matter pressed out) — figurative of injury to, or sufferings of, Israel and Judah: מָזוֺר Hosea 5:13 also Jeremiah 30:13 (Gf Che RVm; but accents Ew Ges Gie AV RV for pressing, i.e. binding up); מְזֹרוֺ Hosea 5:13 (compare III. זור Isaiah 1:6). — מָזוֺר Obadiah 7 see below מזר.

זָזָא see below זוז.

Scope of the Term

מָזוֹר pictures a festering wound, the kind of lesion that refuses to close or knit. Scripture employs it figuratively for the deep-seated spiritual and national afflictions of Israel and Judah—conditions human physicians or political alliances cannot mend.

Occurrences in the Old Testament

• Jeremiah 30:13: “There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sores, no healing for you.”
• Hosea 5:13 (twice): “When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb. Yet he cannot heal you or cure you of your wound.”

Historical Setting

Jeremiah 30 addresses the Babylonian crisis. The exile is portrayed as an incurable sore; Judah’s military collapse and covenant unfaithfulness leave her without earthly help. Hosea writes a century earlier, when Israel and Judah flirt with Assyria for protection. Their wound is the moral rot produced by idolatry and covenant breach. In both eras the same pattern emerges: sin brings national sickness; foreign alliances promise treatment but only deepen dependence.

Theological Emphasis

1. Sin’s gravity. The image underscores that rebellion against God is not a surface scratch but a malignant, life-threatening ulcer (Psalm 38:3-5; Isaiah 1:5-6).
2. Divine diagnosis precedes divine cure. Both Jeremiah and Hosea move from hopeless prognosis to promised healing (Jeremiah 30:17; Hosea 6:1). God alone sets the broken bone and binds the wound.
3. Futility of human saviors. Assyria in Hosea or Egypt in other prophets functions as a spiritual placebo—impressive packaging with no power to heal (Isaiah 30:1-3).

Christological Foreshadowing

The chronic sore finds its ultimate remedy in the Servant who is “pierced for our transgressions… and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). What the prophets declare incurable in human terms, the cross declares curable through substitutionary atonement (1 Peter 2:24).

Ministry and Pastoral Application

• Preaching: מָזוֹר provides vivid imagery for explaining total depravity and the need for regeneration.
• Counseling: Calls believers to forsake inadequate crutches—addictions, moralism, secular ideologies—and seek the Great Physician (Matthew 9:12-13).
• Missions: Reminds the church that cultures, like individuals, bear wounds only Christ can heal; political or economic aid, though important, is insufficient without the gospel.

Related Biblical Motifs

• “Broken cisterns” that hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13).
• “Incurable bruise” (Nahum 3:19).
• The Good Samaritan’s oil and wine on open wounds (Luke 10:34), portraying the compassionate ministry of Christ through His people.

Summary

מָזוֹר confronts readers with the desperate condition of humanity apart from God and directs them to the sole source of lasting healing. The prophets’ diagnosis sharpens the glory of the gospel: the Lord who exposes the wound is the same Lord who, in covenant mercy, binds it up.

לְמָז֑וֹר למזור מְזֹר֔וֹ מָזֽוֹר׃ מזור׃ מזרו lə·mā·zō·wr lemaZor ləmāzōwr mā·zō·wr maZor māzōwr mə·zō·rōw mezoRo məzōrōwInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts