Hebrew word · H3420

יֵרָקוֹן

yerakon

mildew

From the root y-r-q, 'green/yellow-green'. It means yellowing or paleness, a sickly loss of colour. Of grain, it means stalks turning yellow and failing, probably from rust fungus or drought. Of people, it means a deathly pale face (Jer 30:6).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) mildew, paleness, lividness

1a) mildew, rust

1b) paleness

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 Haggai 2:17

Range of meaning

From the root y-r-q, 'green/yellow-green'. It means yellowing or paleness, a sickly loss of colour. Of grain, it means stalks turning yellow and failing, probably from rust fungus or drought. Of people, it means a deathly pale face (Jer 30:6).

Against the English

'Mildew' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and most modern versions) is a reasonable technical guess. But in everyday English 'mildew' means grey mould on damp walls or bathroom tiles, which gives entirely the wrong picture.

How it drifted

The KJV chose 'mildew', which in older English meant a range of plant blights. Modern household use has narrowed the word to damp-indoor mould.

Used elsewhere in the period

Same five passages as shiddaphon (Deut 28:22; 1 Kgs 8:37; 2 Chr 6:28; Amos 4:9; Hag 2:17), plus Jer 30:6 for human pallor.

From the study of 1 Kings 8:37

Range of meaning

From yaraq, 'green/yellow-green': sickly yellowing or paleness. Of grain, it means rust or wilt that turns the ears pale and empty. Of people, it means the deathly paleness of terror (Jer 30:6).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB: 'mildew'. Older translations sometimes have 'rust' or 'blight'.

How it drifted

In modern English 'mildew' suggests damp mould on walls or fabric. The Hebrew word is about the colour change of a dying field.

Used elsewhere in the period

Always paired with shiddafon for crops (Deut 28:22; 1 Kgs 8:37; 2 Chr 6:28; Amos 4:9; Hag 2:17). Jer 30:6 uses it for faces 'turned pale'.

From the study of Amos 4:9

Range of meaning

Paleness or sickly yellow-green colour, from yaraq, 'green / pale'. In crops it means grain that yellows and fails, perhaps from a rust fungus or from drought. In people it means a deathly pale face (Jer 30:6, 'every face turned pale').

Against the English

Almost every English version has 'mildew'. Today that means grey or white mould on damp walls or leaves. The Hebrew describes a colour symptom in standing grain: green fields turning a sick yellow. 'Rust' or 'yellowing' would be closer.

How it drifted

The KJV chose 'mildew', and since then the English word has narrowed to household and garden mould. The Hebrew word also does not specify what causes the yellowing.

Used elsewhere in the period

Always paired with shiddaphon (Deut 28:22; 1 Kgs 8:37; 2 Chr 6:28; Amos 4:9; Hag 2:17), and once used of human pallor (Jer 30:6). The LXX of Amos is usually cited as having ikteros, 'jaundice' (from memory), which keeps the colour idea.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 28:22 וּבַיֵּרָק֑וֹן and with <the> mildew

    The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 8:37 יֵרָק֜וֹן mildew

    When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

    Here: From the word for green-yellow: grain turning sickly pale, from fungal rust or from drought. It almost always comes paired with shiddafon as a set phrase for ruined crops (Deut 28:22; Amos 4:9; Hag 2:17).

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 6:28 וְיֵרָק֜וֹן and mildew

    When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,

    Here: From the word for green or yellow-green. Grain turning sickly pale: fungal rust or mildew, or drought yellowing. The same word describes the deathly pallor of a terrified face (Jeremiah 30:6).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 30:6 לְיֵרָקֽוֹן׃ into paleness

    Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?

    Here: 'Into yeraqon': a sickly greenish-yellow pallor. Elsewhere the same word names the disease that yellows grain crops. The faces have the colour of a blighted field.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 4:9 וּבַיֵּרָקוֹן֒ and with <the> mildew

    “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

    Here: From the root for pale green or yellow: grain that turns sickly yellow and fails, possibly from a fungal rust or from drought. It is always paired with shiddaphon as a fixed curse pair.

Haggai · 1

  1. Haggai 2:17 וּבַיֵּֽרָקוֹן֙ and with <the> mildew

    I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.

    Here: 'And with the yellowing': grain turning pale yellow-green and failing, through fungal rust or disease. It is the regular partner of shiddaphon.

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