Hebrew word · H3286

יָעֵף

veya'efu

to faint

Yaʿef: to be tired out, spent, drained, as after running, fighting or marching (Judg 8:15; 2 Sam 16:2 'for the faint in the wilderness'). Yagaʿ: to toil, to labor hard, and so to be worn out by labor (Isa 49:4 'I have labored in vain'; 43:22–24).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be or grow weary, be fatigued, be faint

1a) (Qal) to be or grow weary, be fatigued, be faint

1b) (Hophal) wearied (participle)

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 40:28

Range of meaning

Yaʿef: to be tired out, spent, drained, as after running, fighting or marching (Judg 8:15; 2 Sam 16:2 'for the faint in the wilderness'). Yagaʿ: to toil, to labor hard, and so to be worn out by labor (Isa 49:4 'I have labored in vain'; 43:22–24). Its nouns are yegiaʿ, the product of toil, and yagaʿ, the gain from labor.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'fainteth not' sounds to modern readers like 'does not pass out.' BSB/NIV 'grow tired or weary' and ESV 'faint or grow weary' are closer. Neither English pair carries yagaʿ's sense of labor.

How it drifted

In older English 'faint' meant 'grow feeble, lose strength or heart.' Today it mostly means losing consciousness.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same two verbs come back in vv. 30–31: 'youths shall faint and be weary… they shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint.' In the Babylonian Atrahasis epic the lesser gods grow weary of hard labor, rebel, and humans are made to carry the toil instead. Enuma Elish (Tablet VI) likewise says humanity was created so the gods could rest. The Septuagint renders yaʿef here as 'will not hunger' (πεινάσει).

From the study of Isaiah 40:30

Range of meaning

To be tired, exhausted, spent. It is mainly the tiredness of the body after exertion (running, travelling, labour). The related adjective ya'ef describes someone worn out and out of strength (Judg 8:15; 2 Sam 16:2, people worn out in the wilderness; Isa 40:29). Some passages tie it to hunger and lack of food, as in the faint and hungry people of 2 Sam 16:2.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'faint'. In 1611 that meant 'grow weak, lose heart, flag'. Today it mostly means passing out. BSB/NIV 'grow tired' and YLT 'are wearied' fit the modern reader better.

How it drifted

'Faint' as a verb used to mean 'become feeble' (Middle English 'feint', weak). Over time it narrowed to mean losing consciousness, so the KJV wording now suggests the wrong picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 40:28 (God 'does not faint/grow tired'), 40:29 (the 'tired' one God strengthens), 40:31 ('walk and not grow tired'), 44:12 (a smith who works without water and 'grows tired'). Jer 51:58, 64 pair it with yaga' for the futile labour of nations. The LXX here translates it peinaō, 'be hungry', which shows the translators linked it to the exhaustion that comes from lack of food.

From the study of Daniel 9:21

Range of meaning

The pair repeats one root for emphasis, but which root is uncertain. (1) From ʿûp, 'to fly': muʿāp would be a passive form, 'made to fly,' and bîʿāp 'in flight,' so together 'flying swiftly.' (2) From yāʿap, 'to grow weary or faint' (Isa 40:28–31, where it pairs with 'run' and 'mount up with wings'): 'wearied with weariness,' that is, utterly exhausted. The noun yəʿāp occurs nowhere else, so we cannot settle it by comparing other uses.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'being caused to fly swiftly.' BSB, NIV, ESV and NRSV have 'in swift flight.' NASB goes the other way with 'in my extreme weariness,' making Daniel the weary one. The supplied lemma data also parses the words as 'wearied with weariness.'

How it drifted

The flight reading goes back to the ancient Greek and Latin versions (Theodotion has 'flying,' the Vulgate has 'cito volans,' 'flying swiftly'). It became standard through the KJV, and from there it fed the familiar picture of a winged Gabriel speeding through the sky. Many modern Hebrew scholars find the 'weariness' derivation at least as likely on the form of the words.

Used elsewhere in the period

Old Greek: 'borne with speed.' Theodotion: 'flying.' Vulgate: 'cito volans.' In the Hebrew Bible, angels described as 'men' (Gen 18–19; Judg 13; Ezek 9; Dan 8:15; 10:5) are never given wings. The winged beings are seraphim (Isa 6) and cherubim (Ezek 1, 10), which are different figures. Wings for angels in general become common later, in Jewish and Christian writing and art.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 40:28 יִיעַ֖ף he grows weary

    Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

    Here: To run out of strength, to be spent, as a runner or a laborer is. The verb form describes what is always true: he does not tire, and he will not.

  2. Isaiah 40:30 וְיִֽעֲפ֥וּ and they may grow weary

    Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

    Here: The tiredness of hard physical effort: running, marching, working until you are out of breath and spent. The opening 'and' works as 'even' or 'though': even the strongest people get worn out. Isaiah repeats the word he used of God in v. 28 ('he does not grow tired') and will use again in v. 31 ('walk and not grow tired').

  3. Isaiah 40:31 יִיעָֽפוּ׃ פ they will grow weary

    But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

    Here: To give out and collapse from fatigue, often on a journey or from thirst and hunger (2 Sam 16:2). Like the previous verb, it was denied of God in v. 28 and said of the youths in v. 30. The paragraph mark (פ) closes the unit.

  4. Isaiah 44:12 וַיִּיעָֽף׃ and he grew weary

    The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Jeremiah · 3

  1. Jeremiah 2:24 יִיעָ֔פוּ they will grow weary

    a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.

    Here: Her suitors need not exhaust themselves in pursuit. She does the chasing. Verse 25 shows that she is the one who wears herself out.

  2. Jeremiah 51:58 וְיָעֵֽפוּ׃ ס and they grow weary

    This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

    Here: 'And they faint.' The last word is exhaustion. Elsewhere this verb pairs with 'toil' (Isa 40:28–31), and here it closes the verse on the picture of spent, worn-out builders.

  3. Jeremiah 51:64 וְיָעֵ֑פוּ and they will grow weary

    Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 9:21 מֻעָ֣ף wearied

    while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.

    Here: A passive participle whose root is disputed. Read from ʿûp it means 'caused to fly'; read from yāʿap it means 'made weary.' The supplied data takes the second reading ('wearied'). See the word study.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 2:13 יִעָֽפוּ׃ they grow weary

    Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?

    Here: To be worn out or fainting. Placed last in the verse, it leaves the reader with exhausted nations and nothing to show for it.

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