Hebrew word · H3019
יָגִיעַ
yegi'ei
weary
Yāgîaʿ (weary, exhausted) occurs only here as an adjective. Its root y-g-ʿ means to toil, labour until worn out. The noun yəgîaʿ is the product or fruit of labour (Gen 31:42; Ps 128:2). Kōaḥ is strength, physical power, capacity.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
weary, tired
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
- Range of meaning
Yāgîaʿ (weary, exhausted) occurs only here as an adjective. Its root y-g-ʿ means to toil, labour until worn out. The noun yəgîaʿ is the product or fruit of labour (Gen 31:42; Ps 128:2). Kōaḥ is strength, physical power, capacity. Together: "those exhausted as to strength," people whose power has been spent.
- Against the English
Most English versions say simply "the weary," which drops "strength." YLT "wearied in power" keeps it but sounds odd. The Vulgate fessi robore ("worn out in strength") is close to the Hebrew.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Isaiah pairs the same two roots: "He gives power (kōaḥ) to the faint… they shall renew their strength (kōaḥ)… run and not grow weary (yîgāʿû)" (Isa 40:29–31), and "I have toiled (yāgaʿtî) in vain, I have spent my strength (kōḥî) for nothing" (Isa 49:4). The Greek Septuagint has "those worn out in body."
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 3:17 יְגִ֣יעֵי weary [ones] of
There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.
Here: "The worn-out ones of…" The adjective appears only here in the Bible. It comes from the root for toil and labour, so it suggests people exhausted by work, not just people feeling tired.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.