Hebrew word · H5290

נֹ֫עַר

mino'ar

youth

Youth, the period of being young. It is closely related to naʿar ('boy, young man, servant'), which has the same consonants.

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

What it means

youth, boyhood, early life

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 Job 33:25

Range of meaning

Youth, the period of being young. It is closely related to naʿar ('boy, young man, servant'), which has the same consonants.

Against the English

Most English versions say 'than a child's' or 'like a child's.' That reflects either reading the consonants as naʿar ('boy') or an interpretive smoothing. The Masoretic vowels give 'than youth,' meaning 'fresher than when he was young.'

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 31:18 and 36:14 (nəʿûrîm, 'youth'); Ps 88:16 ('from my youth'). Close verbal parallel: 2 Kings 5:14, 'like the flesh of a little boy (naʿar qāṭōn).'

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 33:25 מִנֹּ֑עַר more than youth

    then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.

    Here: The prefix mi- most likely compares: 'fresher than [in his] youth.' The hyperbole is that the restored man is in better shape than he was as a young man. If the word is read as naʿar ('boy'), the sense is 'fresher than a boy's.'

  2. Job 36:14 בַּנֹּ֣עַר in <the> youth

    They die in their youth, among the male shrine prostitutes.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 88:15 מִנֹּ֑עַר from youth

    From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

    Here: "Since I was young." The suffering is not a recent crisis. It has lasted as long as the speaker can remember.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 29:21 מִנֹּ֣עַר from youth

    A servant pampered from his youth will bring grief in the end.

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