Hebrew word · H106

אֶגְרֹף

ve'egrof

fist

A fist, the closed hand used to strike. BDB and HALOT connect it with a root meaning to gather or close together.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

fist

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 58:4

Range of meaning

A fist, the closed hand used to strike. BDB and HALOT connect it with a root meaning to gather or close together.

Against the English

Most English versions keep "fist." BSB turns the phrase into "to strike viciously with your fist," which reads "of wickedness" as an adverb and loses the legal note that this fist is in the wrong.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only here and in Exodus 21:18. Later Hebrew uses it for a fist or a punch. The LXX renders it pygmē, "fist, boxing."

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 21:18 בְאֶגְרֹ֑ף with a fist

    If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 58:4 בְּאֶגְרֹ֣ף with a fist of

    You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.

    Here: "With a fist." In the Hebrew Bible this word appears only here and in Exodus 21:18. It is a concrete, physical picture: the fast day ends in literal blows, not only harsh words.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.