Hebrew word · H3511

כְּאֵב

khe'evi

pain

Pain, in both body and spirit.

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

What it means

pain (mental and physical), sorrow

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 Job 2:13

Range of meaning

Pain, in both body and spirit. The related verb ka'av is used of physical soreness: Genesis 34:25, the men of Shechem "being sore" after circumcision, and Job 14:22, "his flesh upon him has pain." It is also used of heartache: Proverbs 14:13, "even in laughter the heart may ache." The noun is used of chronic or incurable pain (Isaiah 17:11; Jeremiah 15:18, "why is my pain perpetual?") and of 'pain of heart' (Isaiah 65:14).

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "grief." BSB, NIV, ESV: "suffering." NASB, YLT: "pain." "Pain" is the closest. "Suffering" is a fair broad equivalent. "Grief" now sounds to most readers like an emotional response to loss alone.

How it drifted

In 1611 English "grief" still meant bodily hurt and sickness as well as sorrow (compare KJV Isaiah 53:4, "he hath borne our griefs," where the Hebrew means sicknesses). Since then the word has narrowed to emotional bereavement.

Used elsewhere in the period

Within Job itself: 16:6, "If I speak, my pain (ke'evi) is not relieved; if I hold back, how much leaves me?" That line again links pain to speaking and not speaking. Related form in 33:19: a man "chastened with pain (makh'ov) on his bed."

From the study of Psalm 39:2

Range of meaning

Pain, both bodily and mental. Job 2:13: Job's "pain was very great" (after the sores). Job 16:6: "If I speak, my pain is not eased; if I hold back, how much leaves me?" Isa 65:14: crying out "from pain of heart." The related verb ka'av means "to be in pain, hurt."

Against the English

KJV, WEB and BSB "sorrow" narrows it to an emotion. YLT "pain" is closer. ESV "distress" and NLT "turmoil" lean toward the inner, psychological side.

How it drifted

"Sorrow" in modern English sounds purely emotional, like grief or sadness. The Hebrew word is first of all pain, and this psalm describes physical wasting under God's hand (vv. 10–11).

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 2:13; 16:6; Isa 17:11; 65:14; Jer 15:18 ("why is my pain unending?"). The near-synonym makh'ov in Lam 1:12 and Ps 38:17.

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 2:13 הַכְּאֵ֖ב the pain

    Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

    Here: "The pain." It covers physical pain and anguish of heart. Here it includes Job's diseased body (2:7-8) as well as his losses. The Hebrew says "the pain," not "his pain."

  2. Job 16:6 כְּאֵבִ֑י pain my

    Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 39:2 וּכְאֵבִ֥י and pain my

    I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.

    Here: "And my pain." The word covers physical pain as well as anguish of heart (Job 2:13; 16:6; Isa 65:14). The psalm later speaks of God's "blow" and rebuke wasting him away (vv. 10–11), so bodily suffering is probably part of what he means.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 17:11 וּכְאֵ֥ב and pain

    though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout—yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.

    Here: 'And pain', the ordinary word for physical pain or suffering (also used of anguish of heart, e.g. Isa 65:14). Here it goes with sickness, so the picture is of a body in pain.

  2. Isaiah 65:14 מִכְּאֵ֣ב from pain of

    My servants will shout for joy with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart and wail with a broken spirit.

    Here: 'From/because of pain.' The word means real pain, bodily or inward, and it sounds close to 'mittuv' in the first line (mit-TUV lev / mik-ke-ʾEV lev), so the two fates rhyme.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 15:18 כְאֵבִי֙ pain my

    Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.

    Here: 'My pain.' A word for real suffering that covers both body and mind (it is used for 'heartache' in Isaiah 65:14). Here it is the prophet's own anguish over his calling and the hostility it brings him.

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