Hebrew word · H1792

דָּכָא

dika'

to crush

To crush, pulverize or break in pieces. Figuratively, to oppress or beat down. Related words: dakkāʾ, 'crushed, contrite' (57:15), and dĕkāʾ, 'dust' (Ps 90:3).

Appears 18 times in 18 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to crush, be crushed, be contrite, be broken

1a) (Niphal)

1a1) to be crushed

1a2) to be contrite (fig.)

1b) (Piel) to crush

1c) (Pual)

1c1) to be crushed, be shattered

1c2) to be made contrite

1d) (Hithpael) to allow oneself to be crushed

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 53:10

Range of meaning

To crush, pulverize or break in pieces. Figuratively, to oppress or beat down. Related words: dakkāʾ, 'crushed, contrite' (57:15), and dĕkāʾ, 'dust' (Ps 90:3).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'bruise'. Modern versions have 'crush'.

How it drifted

In 1611 'bruise' still meant to crush or batter (compare older English 'bruise' for pounding grain or breaking bones). It now usually means a surface mark on the skin, which badly understates the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of oppressing the poor (Isa 3:15; Prov 22:22), of crushed bones (Ps 51:8), and of a crushed spirit as contrite (Isa 57:15). In this song: 53:5 'crushed (mĕdukkāʾ) for our iniquities'.

From the study of Proverbs 22:22

Range of meaning

To crush, pulverize, break into pieces; in the intensive (piel) form, to crush thoroughly. Its derived forms mean dust or something crushed fine. Used figuratively for crushing a people, a spirit or a person.

Against the English

KJV 'oppress' has become an abstract word in modern English. 'Crush' (BSB, ESV, NASB, NIV) keeps the physical image. YLT 'bruise' is too mild to a modern ear.

How it drifted

KJV's 'oppress' once carried the physical sense of pressing down (Latin opprimere). It now sounds general and political, so the grinding picture is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 3:15: 'What do you mean by crushing (tedakke'u) my people, grinding the faces of the poor?' Job 5:4 is a close verbal parallel: the fool's children 'are crushed in the gate (yiddakke'u vasha'ar), with no one to deliver them'. Ps 72:4: the just king 'crushes the oppressor'. Ps 94:5; Lam 3:34. Isa 53:5 uses the passive participle: 'crushed for our iniquities'.

From the study of Jeremiah 44:10

Range of meaning

To crush, pound, grind to pieces, trample. Used of literal crushing (enemies under foot, Lam 3:34; Ps 89:10), of oppressing the poor (Prov 22:22; Isa 3:15), and of being broken inside: the 'crushed in spirit' (Ps 34:18), the 'contrite and lowly in spirit' (Isa 57:15), and the 'broken and crushed heart' (Ps 51:17). The form here is the rare passive-intensive (Pual), 'to be thoroughly crushed'. The only other clear use of this form is Isaiah 53:5, 'crushed for our iniquities'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'humbled' and YLT 'been humbled' keep the passive but soften the image. BSB/NIV/ESV 'humbled themselves' make it something they did to themselves, so the sense of being broken by what happened to them is lost. NASB 'become contrite' gets the inward meaning but drops the physical picture of crushing.

How it drifted

'Humble' in modern English means modest or unassuming, or else embarrassed ('a humbling loss'). The Hebrew image is far more physical and violent: being pounded down until resistance gives way.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew Bible: Isa 53:5, 10; 57:15; Ps 34:18; 51:8, 17; 143:3; Job 6:9; Lam 3:34. It belongs to the same family of words as the root dkk, 'to pound flat'. In Aramaic and Syriac a similar-sounding root (dkʾ/dky) means 'to be pure', which probably explains the Vulgate's 'cleansed' (see textual notes).

Where it appears

Job · 6

  1. Job 4:19 יְ֝דַכְּא֗וּם people crush them

    how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

    Here: Literally "they crush them," with an unnamed subject. Hebrew often uses this where English says "they are crushed." The intensive verb form suggests being ground down or pulverized, not just struck.

  2. Job 5:4 וְיִֽדַּכְּא֥וּ so they may be crushed

    His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

  3. Job 6:9 וִֽידַכְּאֵ֑נִי and may he crush me

    that God would be willing to crush me, to unleash His hand and cut me off!

  4. Job 19:2 וּֽתְדַכְּאוּנַ֥נִי and will you crush? me

    “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?

  5. Job 22:9 יְדֻכָּֽא׃ it has been crushed

    You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

    Here: Passive: 'was crushed, ground down'. The verb is a strong one for pulverizing or grinding to bits. The Hebrew form can describe something that kept happening ('kept being crushed'). The passive leaves the crusher unnamed, though the context lays it at Job's door.

  6. Job 34:25 וְיִדַּכָּֽאוּ׃ so they may be crushed

    Therefore, He recognizes their deeds; He overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 72:4 וִֽידַכֵּ֣א so he may crush

    May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

    Here: 'And he will crush / so that he may crush': a violent verb for grinding something to pieces. Coming after the two lines of rescue, it reads as the result or completion of that rescue. Defending the weak means breaking the power of whoever is pressing on them.

  2. Psalm 89:10 דִכִּ֣אתָ you crushed

    You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

  3. Psalm 94:5 יְדַכְּא֑וּ they crush

    They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.

  4. Psalm 143:3 דִּכָּ֣א he has crushed

    For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead.

    Here: An intensive verb form meaning to grind down or beat to pieces. It is stronger than 'struck' (KJV 'smitten'): the picture is something pressed flat and broken.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 22:22 תְּדַכֵּ֖א you crush

    Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,

    Here: An intensive form of a verb for crushing something to bits. It is a stronger picture than "rob": grinding a weak person down until nothing is left.

Isaiah · 5

  1. Isaiah 3:15 תְּדַכְּא֣וּ you crush

    Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

  2. Isaiah 19:10 מְדֻכָּאִ֑ים crushed

    The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.

  3. Isaiah 53:5 מְדֻכָּ֖א [was] crushed

    But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

    Here: A passive participle: "crushed, ground down, broken in pieces". Verse 10 picks up the same root: "the LORD was pleased to crush him."

  4. Isaiah 53:10 דַּכְּאוֹ֙ to crush him

    Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

    Here: 'To crush him': to break into pieces or grind down. It repeats 53:5, 'crushed for our iniquities', and now says who stood behind that crushing.

  5. Isaiah 57:15 נִדְכָּאִֽים׃ contrite [people]

    For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

    Here: Passive participle of "crush": "those who have been crushed." It closes the verse with the same root as "crushed" (dakkāʾ) in the middle, framing the lowly between two pictures of being ground down.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 44:10 דֻכְּא֔וּ they have been made contrite

    To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed My instruction or the statutes that I set before you and your fathers.

    Here: A passive, intensive form: 'they have been crushed / ground down'. The picture is something pounded to pieces. Applied to people, it means being broken inside, made contrite. The disaster flattened their city, but it did not break them inside.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:34 לְדַכֵּא֙ to crush

    To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,

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