Mercha

Mercha
מֵרְכָ֥א‎ ֥‎ וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ‎
cantillation
Sof passuk	׃‎		paseq	׀‎
etnakhta/atnakh	֑‎		segol	֒‎
shalshelet	֓‎		zaqef qaton	֔‎
zaqef gadol	֕‎		tifcha/tarkha	֖‎
rivia/ravia’	֗‎		zarqa	֘‎
pashta	֙‎		yetiv	֚‎
tevir	֛‎		geresh/gerish	֜‎
geresh muqdam [de ]	֝‎		gershayim/shenei gerishin	֞‎
karnei pharah	֟‎		telisha gedola/talsha	֠‎
pazer (gadol)	֡‎		atnah hafukh [de ]	֢‎
munakh/shofar holekh	֣‎		mahapakh/shofar mehupakh	֤‎
merkha/ma’arikh	֥‎		merkha kefula/terei ta’amei	֦‎
darga	֧‎		qadma	֨‎
telisha qetana/tarsa	֩‎		yerah ben yomo	֪‎
ole	֫‎		illuy	֬‎
dehi [de ]	֭‎		zinor	֮‎
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Mercha (Hebrew: מֵרְכָ֥א‎, also spelled Merkha and other variant English spellings) is a

, 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

.

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

The Hebrew word מֵרְכָ֥א translates into English as mercha.

Total occurrences

Book	Number of appearances
Torah	9117[1]
Genesis	2415[1]
Exodus	1879[1]
Leviticus	1371[1]
Numbers	1859[1]
Deuteronomy	1595[1]
Nevi'im	7672[2]
Ketuvim	5235[2]

Melody

In Etnachta group

In Sof Passuk group

First appearance (before Tipcha)
Second appearance (after Tipcha)

References