Hebrew word · H3121

יָוֵן

biven

mire

Mud, mire, slime. Soft, clinging, foul-bottomed mud. The word is very rare, occurring only here and in Psalm 40:2.

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

What it means

mire, mirer

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 Psalm 69:2

Range of meaning

Mud, mire, slime. Soft, clinging, foul-bottomed mud. The word is very rare, occurring only here and in Psalm 40:2.

Against the English

'Mire' (KJV, WEB, YLT), 'miry' (BSB) and 'mud' all work. 'Mire' is now a bookish word, but it is accurate. Modern figurative use ('mired in paperwork') is milder than the physical terror of the Hebrew image.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 40:2: God lifts the singer from 'the pit of destruction, from the miry mud' and sets his feet on rock, the exact rescue this verse is pleading for. The Greek Septuagint translates it with ἰλύς (ilys), 'slime, sediment', in both psalms.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 40:2 הַיָּ֫וֵ֥ן the mire

    He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

    Here: "The mire." This is deep, sucking slime. Paired with ṭîṭ it piles up the idea: mud upon mire, ground that swallows you instead of holding you.

  2. Psalm 69:2 בִּיוֵ֣ן in mire of

    I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.

    Here: Sticky, sucking mud, with the prefix 'in'. It is a rare word, found elsewhere only in Psalm 40:2, and it pictures mud that holds on to whoever falls into it.

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