Hebrew word · H405
אֶ֫כֶף
ve'akhpi
burden
This is the only occurrence. It is generally understood as 'pressure, burden, load'. It is connected with the verb ʾākap, 'press, urge on' (Prov 16:26: 'his mouth [hunger] presses him on'), and (per BDB) with an Arabic word for a pack-saddle.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
pressure, urgency, burden
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
This is the only occurrence. It is generally understood as 'pressure, burden, load'. It is connected with the verb ʾākap, 'press, urge on' (Prov 16:26: 'his mouth [hunger] presses him on'), and (per BDB) with an Arabic word for a pack-saddle.
- Against the English
WEB, ESV and NASB follow the Hebrew: 'my pressure'. YLT has 'my burden'. KJV, BSB and NIV have 'my hand', following the Greek Septuagint and the parallel with Job 13:21 ('withdraw your hand', kappəkā).
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint has hē cheir mou, 'my hand'. The Vulgate has eloquentia mea, 'my eloquence', a quite different interpretation. Many modern commentators change the text slightly to kappî, 'my hand'. Others keep the rare word as Elihu's deliberate variation on Job's language.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 33:7 וְ֝אַכְפִּ֗י and pressure my
Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
Here: 'And my pressure.' The word occurs only here. It is usually connected with a verb meaning 'to press on, urge' (Prov 16:26). It pictures the weight of something bearing down. The Greek translation, and many modern scholars, read it as 'my hand'.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.