Hebrew word · H1669

דָּאֵב

da'avah

to languish

To languish, pine away, droop, waste away. It covers physical failing from deprivation and also grief and dismay. The noun dəʾāvôn means "languishing"; dəʾāvāh means dismay or terror.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to become faint, languish

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 31:25

Range of meaning

To languish, pine away, droop, waste away. It covers physical failing from deprivation and also grief and dismay. The noun dəʾāvôn means "languishing"; dəʾāvāh means dismay or terror.

Against the English

KJV/WEB "sorrowful" and YLT "grieved" give only the emotional side. BSB "weak" gives only the physical side. ESV's "languishing" comes closest to the whole meaning, and NASB's "languishes" is similar.

How it drifted

English has no single word that means both "wasting from hunger" and "pining with grief", so translators pick one half.

Used elsewhere in the period

The root is rare: Jer 31:12 ("they shall languish no more"), Jer 31:25, Ps 88:9 [Heb 88:10] ("my eye languishes because of affliction"), Deut 28:65 (dəʾāvôn nefesh, "languishing of soul", among the exile curses), Job 41:22 [Heb 41:14]. The Septuagint (and, it seems, the Vulgate) translate it as "hungry" here.

From the study of Psalm 88:9

Range of meaning

To languish, pine away, become faint or exhausted. The word describes life draining out: weakness, withering, a person running dry. Related nouns are deʾābôn, 'languishing (of soul)' (Deut 28:65), and deʾābâ, 'dismay/faintness' (Job 41:22 Eng.).

Against the English

The KJV has 'mourneth', which makes the verb about emotion. BSB/WEB/NIV say 'grow dim' or 'are dim', and the ESV 'grows dim'. That keeps the physical side but makes it sound like eyesight. The NASB's 'has wasted away' is closest to the root idea.

How it drifted

'Dim' in modern English points to poor vision. 'Mourn' points to an emotion. The Hebrew is about vitality failing, and the eye is where that failure shows.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is rare. Its only other uses are in Jeremiah 31: 'they shall languish no more' (31:12) and 'every languishing soul I will fill' (31:25), where God promises restoration. Similar psalms use other verbs for failing eyes: ʿāšaš 'waste away' (Ps 6:7; 31:9) and kālâ 'fail, be spent' (Ps 69:3; Lam 2:11). In 1 Sam 14:27 Jonathan's 'eyes brightened' when strength came back, which is the opposite picture.

From the study of Jeremiah 31:12

Range of meaning

To languish, grow faint, pine away. Used of eyes failing from distress (Psalm 88:9 [Hebrew v. 10]) and of the life-force weakening from hunger, thirst and grief. The related nouns de'avah and de'avon mean dismay or faintness.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'sorrow' and NIV 'sorrow' make it an emotion. 'Languish' (BSB, ESV, NASB) keeps the physical wasting. The Septuagint's 'hunger' and the Vulgate's esurient lean fully to the physical side.

How it drifted

Modern 'sorrow' is purely emotional. The Hebrew joins bodily weakness and inner despair: the faintness of the starving and the grieving at once.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 28:65 (de'avon nefesh, among the exile curses), Jeremiah 31:25 (nefesh da'avah, 'languishing life'), and Job 41:22 (Hebrew v. 14).

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 88:9 דָאֲבָ֗ה it is faint

    My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.

    Here: 'Has grown faint, has wasted.' A rare verb for something running out of strength, like a plant drying up. The point is that his vitality is failing, not that he is sad. The Hebrew perfect form describes a state he has already reached.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 31:12 לְדַאֲבָ֖ה to languish

    They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.

    Here: "To languish": to grow faint and waste away, as a body does from hunger and thirst or a spirit does from long distress. It is the exact opposite of a watered garden.

  2. Jeremiah 31:25 דָּאֲבָ֖ה [who] it has become faint

    for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

    Here: "[That] has languished": drooping and wasting away from deprivation and grief together. The same root appears in 31:12 ("they shall languish no more"), so here God keeps that promise. The ancient Greek and Latin translators took it as "hungry".

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