Evil Plans and Schemes

Word Study

[Jer 11:15; 23:20; 51:11; Ps 10:2,4; 21:11; 30:32; 37:7,12; Pr 1:4; 8:12; 12:2; 14:17; 31:16; Job 42:2; Lam 2:17; Zech 8:15; Gen 11:6]

Mezimmah (mez-im-maw’)
A Hebrew word meaning a plan, a thought. Most often the term describes the evil plans, schemes, or plots that men devise to go against God’s righteous decrees. The Lord declared to Jeremiah that in carrying out their evil, idolatrous plans, His people forfeited their right to enter His house (or, the Temple, Jer 11:15).

Jer 11:15 (NASB) –“What right has My beloved in My house When she has carried out many evil schemes?”

In Psalms 10:2, the psalmist prayed that the wicked might be ensnared by the very schemes (mez-im-maw’) they had planned to unleash on the poor.

Ps 10:2 (ESV) –In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes (mez-im-maw’) that they have devised.

The cunning plans that God’s enemies intend to execute against Him never succeed (Ps 21:11; cf. Ps 37:7).

Ps 21:11 (ESV) –Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief (mez-im-maw’), they will not succeed.

Ps 37:7 (ESV) –Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices (mez-im-maw’)!

Those who plot evil are condemned and hated by God (Pr 12:2, 14:17).

Pr 12:2 (ESV) –A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but a man of evil devices (mez-im-maw’) he condemns.

Pr 14:17 (ESV) –A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated.

Often, the wicked are so blinded by pride that their only thought about God is that He doesn’t exist (Ps 10:4).

Ps 10:4 (KJV) –The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts (mez-im-maw’).

Another significant use of this word occurs when it describes an intention of God, it give us the idea of purpose or plan. After the Lord confronted Job in the whirlwind, Job was deeply humbled and acknowledged that no purpose of the Lord’s can be thwarted (Job 42:2).

Job 42:2 (ESV) –“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose (mez-im-maw’) of yours can be thwarted.

The Lord’s anger was so hot because of the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day that He would not cool off until He had accomplished the purpose of His heart against them (Jer 23:20; cf. Jer 30:24).

Jer 23:20 (ESV) –The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents (mez-im-maw’) of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

The Lord’s purpose for Babylon was to utterly destroy it for all the evil they had committed against Jerusalem and the Temple (Jer 51:11).

Jer 51:11 (ESV) –“Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose (mez-im-maw’) concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

In Proverbs, (mez-im-maw’) is often connected with prudence, discretion, and wisdom.

Pr 1:4 (ESV) –to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.

Pr 8:12 (KJV) –I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

Wisdom and prudence go hand in hand (Pr 8:12). This noun derives from the verb zamam (H2161).¹

H2161, zamam (zaw-mam’) A verb meaning to consider, to purpose, to devise. This verb gets its meaning from the idea of talking to oneself in a low voice, as if arriving at some conclusion. It is, the action of fixing thought on an object so as to acquire it (Pr 31:16);

Speaking of an excellent wife….

Pr 31:16 (ESV) –She considers (zaw-mam’) a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

Devising a plan or an agenda (Lam 2:17; Zech 8:15).

Lam 2:17 (KJV) –The LORD hath done that which he had devised….

Zech 8:15 (KJV) –So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

(Zaw-mam’) – means to conceive an idea (Gen 11:6).

Gen 11:6 (KJV) –And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

It also describes the plotting of evil against another (Ps 37:12; Pr 30:32).²

Ps 37:12 (ESV) –The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him,

Pr 30:32 (ESV) –If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

Remember, whatever stands between you and your Bible, is being used by the enemy!

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond

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¹Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Old Testament, KJV (Chattanooga: AMG, 1994), H4209.

²Ibid., H2161.