Hebrew word · H1205

בְּעָתָה

ve'atah

terror

Terror, sudden fright, dismay. The root bāʿat means 'to terrify, startle' (used of Saul's evil spirit, 1 Sam 16:14–15, and in Job 'terrors' overwhelming a person).

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

What it means

terror, dismay

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 Jeremiah 14:19

Range of meaning

Terror, sudden fright, dismay. The root bāʿat means 'to terrify, startle' (used of Saul's evil spirit, 1 Sam 16:14–15, and in Job 'terrors' overwhelming a person).

Against the English

ESV, NASB, YLT and BSB have 'terror'; WEB has 'dismay'. KJV 'trouble' is too mild for modern readers, who hear 'difficulty' rather than panic. KJV's choice probably follows the Latin turbatio and Greek tarachē ('disturbance').

How it drifted

In 1611, 'trouble' could still carry a stronger sense of agitation and distress; today it suggests inconvenience.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here and Jeremiah 8:15, which is the same refrain. The rarity suggests the line was a fixed lament formula Jeremiah reused.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 8:15 בְעָתָֽה׃ terror

    We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

  2. Jeremiah 14:19 בְעָתָֽה׃ terror

    Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

    Here: Sudden terror or dismay, from a root meaning 'to terrify'. It occurs only here and in Jeremiah 8:15. Where they expected recovery, panic arrived.

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