Hebrew word · H4155
מוּעָף
mu'af
gloom
Occurs only here. It is related to me'uf ('gloom') in 8:22 and to the noun 'efah ('darkness', Amos 4:13; Job 10:22), from a root meaning 'to be dark'. It means deep, oppressive gloom. Its partner mutsaq (H4164) comes from tsuq, 'to press, constrain', and means distress or narrowness.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
gloom, darkness
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
Occurs only here. It is related to me'uf ('gloom') in 8:22 and to the noun 'efah ('darkness', Amos 4:13; Job 10:22), from a root meaning 'to be dark'. It means deep, oppressive gloom. Its partner mutsaq (H4164) comes from tsuq, 'to press, constrain', and means distress or narrowness. Job 36:16 contrasts it with 'a broad place where there is no constraint'.
- Against the English
Most versions have 'gloom'. The KJV's 'dimness' is weaker and suggests poor visibility rather than disaster. NLT paraphrases the clause as 'that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Isaiah 8:22 sets the scene with a pile of darkness words: tsarah (distress), chashekah (darkness), me'uf tsuqah (gloom of anguish), afelah (deep darkness). Verse 9:1 picks up two of these (gloom, distress) and denies them. The pairing of darkness with being 'hemmed in' appears in other laments over invasion and siege.
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 9:1 מוּעָף֮ gloom
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:
Here: A rare word that occurs only here, plainly echoing the 'gloom' (me'uf) of 8:22. It means a thick, oppressive darkness, the darkness of a land in disaster.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.