Hebrew word · H1749

דּוֹנַג

donag

wax

Wax (beeswax). Rare: four occurrences in the Hebrew Bible.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

wax (always figurative 'of melting')

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

Range of meaning: Wax (beeswax). Rare: four occurrences in the Hebrew Bible.
Against the English: English readers may think of a candle. The Hebrew uses of the word all show wax losing its shape in heat.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 68:2 ('as wax melts before fire, so the wicked perish before God'); Ps 97:5 ('the mountains melt like wax before the LORD'); Mic 1:4 ('the mountains melt under him… like wax before the fire'). Ps 22:14 is the only place where wax describes a human heart.

Range of meaning: Wax, almost certainly beeswax. It appears only four times in the Hebrew Bible, always in a picture of melting: Psalm 22:14 ("my heart has become like wax"), Psalm 68:2 ("as wax melts before fire, so the wicked perish before God"), Psalm 97:5, and Micah 1:4.
Against the English: "Wax" is accurate. The only thing modern readers may miss is how ordinary the image was: wax was used for seals and writing tablets, and anyone who had held it near a lamp or fire had seen it slump and run.
Used elsewhere in the period: Micah 1:4 is the closest parallel: "the mountains melt beneath him... like wax before the fire." Psalm 68:2 uses the same image for God's enemies. Verse 3 of this psalm ("fire goes before him") supplies the heat, so the wax picture continues the fire picture and is not a free-standing metaphor.

Range of meaning: Wax, almost certainly beeswax. It appears only four times (Ps 22:14; 68:2; 97:5; Mic 1:4), each time as a picture of something giving way completely in heat.
Against the English: 'Wax' is exact. The modern image of a candle is close enough, though ancient wax was known mainly from writing tablets, sealing, and lost-wax metal casting, where it vanishes entirely in the heat.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 68:2: 'as wax melts before fire, so the wicked perish before God'. Ps 97:5: 'the mountains melt like wax before the LORD'. Micah uses a stock phrase from Israel's worship.

Psalms · 3

Psalm 22:14 כַּדּוֹנָ֑ג like <the> wax

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.

Here: Wax appears in only three other places in the Hebrew Bible, each time melting before God's fire (Ps 68:2; 97:5; Mic 1:4). The sufferer's heart has gone soft and shapeless, like wax near a flame.
Psalm 68:2 דּ֭וֹנַג wax

As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.

Here: Beeswax. It is a rare word, found only four times, and always as an image of something that loses its shape before heat or before God (Ps 22:14; 97:5; Mic 1:4).
Psalm 97:5 כַּדּוֹנַ֗ג like <the> wax

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Here: "Like wax." Hebrew often puts "the" in front of the thing a comparison is made with, so "like the wax" just means "like wax." Wax was the everyday example of something that goes soft and runs near heat.

Micah · 1

Micah 1:4 כַּדּוֹנַג֙ like <the> wax

The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

Here: Beeswax, which softens and runs in the heat. A rare, vivid word, used only four times in the Hebrew Bible and always for something giving way completely (Ps 22:14; 68:2; 97:5).

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