Hebrew word · H338

אִי

'iyim

wild beast

Probably 'howlers', named from their cry (compare the interjection ʾî, 'alas!'). Lexicons usually identify them as jackals, and some as hyenas or wolves. Found only in Isa 13:22; 34:14; Jer 50:39. A different word spelled the same, ʾî (H339), means 'coast, island'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

howling beast, jackal

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 50:39

Range of meaning

Probably 'howlers', named from their cry (compare the interjection ʾî, 'alas!'). Lexicons usually identify them as jackals, and some as hyenas or wolves. Found only in Isa 13:22; 34:14; Jer 50:39. A different word spelled the same, ʾî (H339), means 'coast, island'.

Against the English

BSB/ESV 'hyenas', WEB 'wolves', NASB 'jackals', KJV 'wild beasts of the islands'. The KJV reading comes from confusing the word with ʾî 'island', a confusion already present in the Greek tradition. It has nothing to do with islands.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'islands' is not a shift in English meaning. It is an old misidentification of the Hebrew word that passed down through the versions.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 13:22 ('howlers will cry in its strongholds') makes the sound-based meaning likely. The Septuagint renders it 'donkey-centaurs' (onokentauroi) in Isaiah, and in Jeremiah (LXX 27:39) it apparently has phantoms 'in the islands'.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 13:22 אִיִּים֙ hyenas

    Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

  2. Isaiah 34:14 אִיִּ֔ים hyenas

    The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 50:39 אִיִּ֔ים hyenas

    So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there and ostriches will dwell there. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.

    Here: Probably 'howlers', animals named for their cry, most often identified as jackals or hyenas. It sounds almost like ṣiyyîm (ṣiyyîm ʾet-ʾiyyîm), a deliberate sound pair.

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