Hebrew word · H1468

גּוּז

vaiyagoz

to cut off

A rare verb. In Ps 90:10 it is intransitive, "pass by quickly" ("it is soon gone"). Here it must be transitive, "make pass across, sweep along, drive". Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list the meaning but discuss the form.

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

What it means

1) to pass over, pass away

1a) (Qal) to pass away (of life)

2) (TWOT) to bring, cut off

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 Numbers 11:31

Range of meaning

A rare verb. In Ps 90:10 it is intransitive, "pass by quickly" ("it is soon gone"). Here it must be transitive, "make pass across, sweep along, drive". Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list the meaning but discuss the form. Some scholars connect it with gazaz, "shear, cut", or suggest repointing it as a causative form ("made to pass over").

Against the English

BSB "drove in", KJV/WEB "brought", YLT "cutteth off". "Brought" is too flat; "drove" or "swept" fits the action of the wind. YLT's "cutteth off" depends on the alternative root and gives an odd picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 90:10 (passing swiftly). The LXX here has exeperasen, "brought across / made to cross", which shows the early translators understood it as moving the birds across the water.

From the study of Psalm 90:10

Range of meaning

'To pass by, pass away, go over'. In Numbers 11:31 the wind 'swept' quail in from the sea. It is used only twice. It is sometimes linked with gazaz, 'to shear, cut', which gave the KJV 'cut off'.

Against the English

KJV 'it is soon cut off', YLT 'it hath been cut off hastily'; BSB 'they quickly pass', ESV 'soon gone'. 'Cut off' suggests a violent end. 'Pass' suggests something sweeping past and disappearing.

How it drifted

Older translators connected the verb with the root for shearing. Modern lexicons (HALOT) prefer 'pass by'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 11:31. Shearing words (gazaz) appear separately, for example Nahum 1:12, where enemies are 'cut down'.

Similar words

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 11:31 וַיָּ֣גָז and it brought

    Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp.

    Here: A rare verb. Elsewhere it means "pass away quickly" (Ps 90:10). Here it is used transitively: the wind swept or drove the birds across from the sea. YLT's "cutteth off" comes from tracing it to a related root meaning "shear".

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 90:10 גָ֥ז it passes away

    The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

    Here: 'It passed by', a completed action. The subject is probably life, or the 'swagger' just mentioned. The verb is used for wind sweeping across (Numbers 11:31). Life goes past and is gone.

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