Hebrew word · H5107

נוּב

yanuv

to bear fruit

A rare verb meaning to sprout, grow, thrive, bear fruit. Related nouns: nôḇ / nîḇ, 'fruit, produce' (Isa 57:19, 'the fruit of the lips', reading the text as read aloud in synagogue tradition; Mal 1:12).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to bear fruit

1a) (Qal) to bear fruit

1b) (Pilel) to make to flourish (fig.)

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 Proverbs 10:31

Range of meaning

A rare verb meaning to sprout, grow, thrive, bear fruit. Related nouns: nôḇ / nîḇ, 'fruit, produce' (Isa 57:19, 'the fruit of the lips', reading the text as read aloud in synagogue tradition; Mal 1:12).

Against the English

BSB/ESV 'brings forth', WEB 'produces', YLT 'uttereth', NASB 'flows with', NIV 'comes the fruit of'. 'Brings forth' and 'produces' are accurate but flat. 'Utters' and 'flows' lose the plant picture altogether. NIV's 'fruit' comes closest to the Hebrew image.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 92:14 (Heb. 92:15): the righteous 'will still bear fruit (yenûḇûn) in old age', the same righteous-as-flourishing-tree picture. Zechariah 9:17 (intensive form): grain 'makes the young men flourish'. HALOT and BDB both give 'bear fruit / grow' as the basic sense. Normally the verb takes no object. Here it takes 'wisdom' as the thing produced, so the meaning is 'sprouts wisdom' (Waltke).

From the study of Psalm 62:10

Range of meaning

To sprout, bear fruit, flourish; figuratively, to produce (Prov 10:31, 'the mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom'). It is rare, mainly found in poetry.

Against the English

'Increase' (most English versions) is accurate but flat. The Hebrew image is organic: wealth that grows by itself, like a fruit tree yielding a crop.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 92:14 (Heb 15), 'they will still bear fruit in old age'; Zech 9:17, grain making young men 'flourish.' The related noun tenuvah means 'produce, fruit' (Deut 32:13; Judg 9:11).

From the study of Psalm 92:14

Range of meaning

A rare verb meaning to grow, bear fruit, yield produce. It is used of plants, and by extension of anything that 'produces': wealth that increases (Ps 62:10, Eng.), a righteous mouth that 'bears' wisdom (Prov 10:31), grain that makes young men 'thrive' (Zech 9:17). Related nouns are tənûbâ, 'produce, fruit' (the fig's 'good fruit' in Judges 9:11; the field's yield in Deut 32:13), and nîb, 'fruit' (of the lips, Isa 57:19).

Against the English

English versions agree: 'bear fruit', 'bring forth fruit', 'yield fruit', 'produce fruit'. YLT's bare 'bring forth' keeps the Hebrew's lack of an object. The verb alone means 'produce'; 'fruit' is built into it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only a handful of uses in the Hebrew Bible, all in poetry or wisdom writing (Ps 62:10; 92:14; Prov 10:31; Zech 9:17). BDB and HALOT both give the core sense 'bear fruit, thrive'. The Greek translators of the Septuagint read it here as 'they will be multiplied' (plēthynthēsontai), taking the idea of increase rather than fruit.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 62:10 יָנ֑וּב it will bear fruit

    Place no trust in extortion or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

    Here: A farming picture: wealth 'sprouts' or 'bears fruit' the way a tree does (compare Ps 92:14, 'they will still bear fruit in old age'). It suggests natural, even honest growth, not robbery.

  2. Psalm 92:14 יְנוּב֣וּן they will bear fruit !

    In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,

    Here: 'They will bear fruit / keep producing.' The verb is about a plant giving its produce. It carries an extra final -n, a longer and older form of the ending that turns up often in poetry and gives the word a fuller, weightier sound.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 10:31 יָנ֣וּב it will bear fruit

    The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.

    Here: A plant word: to shoot up, grow, yield produce. The mouth is pictured like a fruit tree whose natural crop is wisdom. The verb form describes what habitually and characteristically happens.

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 9:17 יְנוֹבֵ֥ב it will cause to thrive

    How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

    Here: 'Makes (them) thrive / flourish.' The root is used of plants bearing fruit (Ps 92:14) and of wealth increasing (Ps 62:10). This form means 'causes to sprout and flourish'. Its tense points to the future. Grammatically it goes with the nearest subject ('new wine'), but it does the work for both halves of the line: grain makes the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

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