Hebrew word · H3642
כָּמַהּ
kamah
to pine
Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB gives 'faint (with longing)' and cites an Arabic relative meaning 'to be pale, dim'. Hence: to waste away, grow faint, pine.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
(Qal) to long for, faint, faint with longing
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
- Range of meaning
Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB gives 'faint (with longing)' and cites an Arabic relative meaning 'to be pale, dim'. Hence: to waste away, grow faint, pine.
- Against the English
KJV 'longeth', BSB 'yearns', ESV 'faints', NASB 'yearns', NIV and NLT 'longs'. 'Faints' keeps the physical collapse better. 'Longs' and 'yearns' make it purely emotional.
- How it drifted
Because the word occurs only once, translators have had to guess its meaning, and 'longs' and 'yearns' are safe choices that lose the physical edge.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint did not recognise it and read kammah ('how much'), giving 'how many ways my flesh [thirsts] for you'. The Vulgate follows with 'quam multipliciter'. It is matched with 'thirsts' in the parallel line, a pairing that guides its meaning.
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
-
Psalm 63:1 כָּמַ֣הּ it longs
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
Here: Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. It means to waste away or grow faint with longing, and related words in other Semitic languages suggest growing pale or dim. It works as a stronger parallel to 'thirsts'.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.