Hebrew word · H1851

דַּק

dak

thin

Thin, lean, fine, small. It is used of gaunt cows (Gen 41:3), thin hair (Lev 13:30), fine dust (Isa 29:5), incense 'beaten fine' (Lev 16:12), the 'fine flakes' of manna (Exod 16:14) and a person stunted in growth (Lev 21:20). The verb daqaq means 'to crush, grind to powder.'

Appears 14 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) thin, small, fine, gaunt

1a) thin

1b) small, fine

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 1 Kings 19:12

Range of meaning

Thin, lean, fine, small. It is used of gaunt cows (Gen 41:3), thin hair (Lev 13:30), fine dust (Isa 29:5), incense 'beaten fine' (Lev 16:12), the 'fine flakes' of manna (Exod 16:14) and a person stunted in growth (Lev 21:20). The verb daqaq means 'to crush, grind to powder.'

Against the English

'Small' (KJV, BSB) is fair, but it can suggest low volume. 'Low' or 'gentle' (ESV, NIV) moves further toward volume. The Hebrew picture is texture: thin, fine, ground down to almost nothing.

Used elsewhere in the period

The incense link stands out. Finely ground incense (daqqah) is what Aaron brings into the Most Holy Place so the cloud covers him in God's presence (Lev 16:12–13), the same feminine form as here. Whether the author intended that echo is uncertain.

From the study of Leviticus 16:12

Range of meaning

Thin, lean, fine, crushed small. It describes gaunt cattle and thin ears of grain (Genesis 41:3–7), fine dust (Isaiah 29:5; 40:15), fine flakes of manna (Exodus 16:14), and the famous 'thin sound of silence' at Horeb (1 Kings 19:12). The related verb dāqaq means to crush or pulverise.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'beaten small.' BSB and NIV say 'finely ground.' YLT's 'thin' is literal but sounds odd. All of them capture the idea.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 30:36 orders some of the incense to be 'beaten very small' (hēdēq) and placed before the testimony. Mishnah Yoma 4:4 records that on ordinary days the incense was fine, but on the Day of Atonement it was 'the finest of the fine' (daqqâ min hadaqqâ). That is a rabbinic reading built from this word.

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 41:3 וְדַקּ֣וֹת and thin of

    After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the well-fed cows on the bank of the river.

  2. Genesis 41:4 וְדַקֹּ֣ת and [the] thin of

    And the cows that were sickly and thin devoured the seven sleek, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up,

  3. Genesis 41:6 דַּקּ֖וֹת thin

    After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind.

  4. Genesis 41:7 הַדַּקּ֔וֹת <the> thin

    And the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven plump, ripe ones. Then Pharaoh awoke and realized it was a dream.

  5. Genesis 41:23 דַּקּ֖וֹת thin

    After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind.

  6. Genesis 41:24 הַדַּקֹּ֔ת <the> thin

    And the thin heads of grain swallowed the seven plump ones. I told this dream to the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.”

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 16:14 דַּ֣ק דַּ֥ק thin [stuff]

    When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.

Leviticus · 3

  1. Leviticus 13:30 דָּ֑ק thin

    the priest shall examine the infection, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a scaly outbreak, an infectious disease of the head or chin.

  2. Leviticus 16:12 דַּקָּ֑ה fine

    Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.

    Here: Ground to a fine powder, so it would burst into thick smoke the moment it touched the coals. Exodus 30:36 already orders the incense to be beaten small. Later Jewish tradition said it was ground even finer for this day.

  3. Leviticus 21:20 דַ֔ק a [man] thin

    or who is a hunchback or dwarf, or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs, or a crushed testicle.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 19:12 דַקָּֽה׃ soft

    After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.

    Here: 'Thin' or 'fine.' It comes from a root meaning 'to crush or grind to powder' and describes fine dust, finely ground incense, thin cattle and the fine flakes of manna. It describes the silence: a fine, thin, pulverised stillness, the opposite of wind that shatters rocks.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 29:5 דַּ֖ק fine

    But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

    Here: "Fine" in the sense of ground or crushed to powder. The word heightens the picture: the enemy is not just beaten but pulverised, weightless, gone at a breath. Compare Isaiah 40:15, where God lifts the coastlands "like fine dust".

  2. Isaiah 40:15 כַּדַּ֥ק like <the> fine [dust]

    Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

    Here: 'Like something fine'. Here an adjective used as a noun: a fine particle or mote. Compare 'fine dust' (ʾāvāq daq) in Isaiah 29:5 and the incense 'beaten fine' in Leviticus 16:12.

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