A primitive root meaning to reject, cast away, despise, refuse. It is used of human rejection of God and God's potential rejection of rebellious Israel. One of the strongest Hebrew words for the repudiation of a person or thing.
The word māʾas appears at the most critical turning points in Israel's covenant history. In 1 Samuel 15:23, 26, God says to Saul: 'Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.' The same verb applies in both directions — Saul's rejection of God's Word brought divine rejection. In Amos 5:21, God declares to unfaithful Israel: 'I hate, I despise your religious festivals.' True worship cannot be separated from covenantal fidelity. The covenant-rejection dynamic of māʾas reaches its ultimate expression in Isaiah 53:3 — the Suffering Servant 'was despised (niv̠zeh) and rejected (chadal) by mankind' — Jesus bearing the full weight of human rejection so that we might never experience the ultimate rejection of God. 'Those the Father has given me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away' (John 6:37) — the divine reversal of māʾas.