Mercha

{{Hebrew cantillation|name_en=Mercha|name_he=מֵרְכָ֥א|smbl=֥|smpl=וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ}}

Mercha ({{langx|he|מֵרְכָא}}, also spelled Merkha and other variant English spellings) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books that are chanted.

Mercha is found in several trope groups, though the melody varies from one use to the next. It is the beginning of the Etnachta group, can be found either once or twice preceding the Sof passuk, or can occasionally precede the Pashta in the Katon group or a Tevir.

Mercha appears in the Torah 9117 times—the second most of any trope sounds. Only Tipcha occurs more often.

The Hebrew word {{lang|he|rtl=yes|מֵרְכָא}} translates into English as mercha.

Total occurrences

class="wikitable"

!Book

!Number of appearances

Torah

|9117Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Concordance ..., Volume 1 By James D. Price, page 6

   Genesis

|2415

   Exodus

|1879

   Leviticus

|1371

   Numbers

|1859

   Deuteronomy

|1595

Nevi'im

|7672Concordance of the Hebrew accents in the Hebrew Bible: Concordance ..., Volume 1 By James D. Price, page 5

Ketuvim

|5235

Melody

=In Etnachta group=

=In Sof Passuk group=

First appearance (before Tipcha)

File:MerchaSof1.jpg

Second appearance (after Tipcha)

File:MerchaSof2.jpg

References

{{reflist}}

{{Torah reading}}

Category:Cantillation marks

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