Hebrew word · H3016

יָגוֹר

yagor

fearing

Yagor is a rare adjective, 'fearing, dreading,' from the verb yagor, 'to dread' (compare Deut 9:19 and 28:60). 'From their faces' is the normal Hebrew way to name what someone is afraid of.

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

What it means

(Qal) fearful, fearing

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 39:17

Range of meaning

Yagor is a rare adjective, 'fearing, dreading,' from the verb yagor, 'to dread' (compare Deut 9:19 and 28:60). 'From their faces' is the normal Hebrew way to name what someone is afraid of.

Against the English

'Whom you fear' and 'of whom you are afraid' are both accurate. 'Dread' (used in some versions) keeps the sense of a heavier, ongoing fear.

Used elsewhere in the period

The adjective occurs only here and in Jer 22:25. There, speaking to King Jehoiachin (Coniah), God says: 'I will give you into the hand of… those whose face you dread (asher attah yagor mippeneihem).' The wording is identical.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 22:25 יָג֖וֹר [are] fearful

    In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans.

  2. Jeremiah 39:17 יָג֖וֹר [are] fearful

    But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you fear.

    Here: A rare word that describes a lasting state, 'one who dreads.' God names a real, ongoing fear in this man and does not scold him for it.

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