Hebrew word · H3933

לַ֫עַג

la'ag

derision

Mockery, derision, scorn. It is often what enemies or the nations direct at a humiliated people (Psalm 44:13; 79:4; Ezekiel 23:32; 36:4).

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

1) mocking, derision, stammering

1a) mocking, derision

1b) stammerings

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Mockery, derision, scorn. It is often what enemies or the nations direct at a humiliated people (Psalm 44:13; 79:4; Ezekiel 23:32; 36:4).
Against the English: KJV and WEB keep the noun ('their derision'). BSB and NIV make it a passive verb ('they will be ridiculed'), which settles the ambiguity in favour of mockery suffered.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalm 44:13 and 79:4 ('a derision and scorn to those around us'); Ezekiel 23:32 ('laughed at and held in derision'). In these texts la'ag is part of the curse of defeat: shame before the nations.

Range of meaning: Mockery, derision, ridicule, a taunt; something or someone made a laughingstock. Related verbs mean to mock, and some forms of the root are connected with stammering or foreign-sounding speech (Isaiah 28:11; 33:19), though how the senses connect is not settled.
Against the English: "Scorn" (KJV, BSB) is close but can sound like a silent attitude. "Scoffing" (WEB, NLT), "ridicule" (NIV) and "scorning" (YLT) better keep the sense of something said aloud.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalms 44:13 and 79:4 pair it with "scorn" for Israel as the laughingstock of its neighbors. Job 34:7 describes a man who "drinks up la'ag like water," the closest parallel to this verse's image of taking mockery in. Nehemiah 2:19 uses the related verb when Judah's opponents "mocked us" and despised the wall-builders. The Septuagint here has oneidos, "reproach."

Range of meaning: Mockery, derision, scornful laughter. The verb la'ag means to mock, deride, or laugh at someone. A related use describes stammering or foreign-sounding speech (Isa 28:11; 33:19), maybe because mockery imitates someone's speech.
Against the English: BSB "mockery", KJV "scorn", WEB "scoffing". All are accurate. The Hebrew carries the sound of laughter and jeering more than an attitude of contempt.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 2:4 ("the Lord mocks them", meaning the rebellious nations); Ps 59:8; Ps 79:4 (same pairing with qeles); Ps 123:4 ("the scorn of the proud"); Ezek 23:32; 36:4. The Septuagint here translates it as myktērismos, sneering, literally "turning up the nose".

Job · 1

Job 34:7 לַּ֥עַג mockery

What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?

Psalms · 3

Psalm 44:13 לַ֥עַג mockery

You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

Here: Mocking laughter, jeering. The same root is used in Psalm 2:4 for God laughing at rebellious nations. Here the direction is reversed: the nations laugh at God's people.
Psalm 79:4 לַ֥עַג mockery

We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.

Here: Scoffing laughter. The root is also used for stammering or garbled speech (Isaiah 28:11), which suggests mocking mimicry: jeering, imitating, making fun.
Psalm 123:4 הַלַּ֥עַג the mockery of

We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

Here: Spoken, audible ridicule, the taunt that others can hear. It names what the throat has been filled with.

Ezekiel · 2

Ezekiel 23:32 וּלְלַ֖עַג and <into> mockery

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.
Ezekiel 36:4 וּלְלַ֔עַג and <into> mockery

therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and abandoned cities, which have become a spoil and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you.

Here: Scornful derision and jeering. Plunder is the material loss and mockery is the loss of honour; Ezekiel names both.

Hosea · 1

Hosea 7:16 לַעְגָּ֖ם [will be] mockery their

They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

Here: 'Their derision.' Most likely the mockery they will suffer, becoming a laughingstock. The Hebrew could also mean the mockery they deal out, but context favours the former.

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