Hebrew word · H535

אָמַל

'umlal

to weaken

To be weak, to droop, to languish, to fade. It is used of plants, of land, and of people who have lost their vitality.

Appears 16 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be weak, to droop, to languish, to be exhausted

1a) (Qal) pass participle (of the heart)

1a1) to be weak

1a2) to droop

1b) (Pulal)

1b1) to be or grow feeble

1b2) to languish

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 Joel 1:12

Range of meaning

To be weak, to droop, to languish, to fade. It is used of plants, of land, and of people who have lost their vitality.

Against the English

KJV and YLT 'languish' keep the sense of drooping decline, though the word is now old-fashioned. 'Withered' (BSB, NIV, WEB) is clear but makes this verb sound the same as the drying verbs around it, which loses some of Joel's variety.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 2:5 and Jeremiah 15:9 use it of a mother who has lost her vigour or her children. Isaiah 24:7 sets it beside mourning: the new wine mourns and the vine languishes. Hosea 4:3 pairs it with a land in mourning, and Joel 1:10 applies it to the olive oil.

From the study of 1 Samuel 2:5

Range of meaning

To be weak, to wither, droop, languish. It is used of vines, fields and land drying up (Isa 16:8; 24:7; Joel 1:10, 12; Nah 1:4), and of cities and people in mourning (Isa 19:8; Jer 14:2; Lam 2:8).

Against the English

KJV 'is waxed feeble,' WEB and YLT 'languishes,' BSB 'pines away.' 'Pines away' can suggest emotional longing to a modern reader. The Hebrew picture is a plant shrivelling, life draining out.

How it drifted

English 'pine' has narrowed toward wistful yearning for someone or something. The Hebrew is about drying up and loss of vitality.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 15:9 is the closest parallel: 'She who bore seven has withered; she has breathed out her life; her sun went down while it was still day.' There, the withering mother is bereaved of her children.

From the study of Hosea 4:3

Range of meaning

To be weak, feeble, to languish or wither. It is used of vines, fields and fig trees drooping (Isa 16:8; 24:7; Joel 1:10, 12; Nah 1:4). It is also used of people who are drained: the mother of seven 'languishes' (Jer 15:9; 1 Sam 2:5), and of a city's walls and ramparts (Lam 2:8). Here it is a passive 'pulal' form, 'is made to wither'.

Against the English

'Languish' (KJV, ESV, NASB), 'waste away' (BSB, NIV, WEB, NLT), 'weak' (YLT). All are fair. 'Waste away' brings out the slow, draining quality. 'Wither' would best keep the plant imagery that the word shares with ʾābal.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is almost always paired with ʾābal in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel and Lamentations, a fixed poetic pair. A related noun appears in the Ugaritic texts. Commentators note the root but its comparative evidence is thin.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 2:5 אֻמְלָֽלָה׃ she languishes

    The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

    Here: 'Has withered.' The word is used of dried-up vines and fields and of cities in mourning. The fertile mother shrivels like a dying plant, perhaps bereaved, certainly brought low.

Isaiah · 6

  1. Isaiah 16:8 אֻמְלָ֜ל it has withered

    For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.

  2. Isaiah 19:8 אֻמְלָֽלוּ׃ they will languish

    Then the fishermen will mourn, all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

  3. Isaiah 24:4 אֻמְלְלָ֥ה אֻמְלָ֖לוּ it has languished, they have languished

    The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.

  4. Isaiah 24:7 אֻמְלְלָה־ it has languished

    The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.

  5. Isaiah 33:9 אֻמְלְלָה֙ it has languished

    The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

    Here: An intensive passive form: 'has been made to wilt'. It sounds like the first verb (ʾāval / ʾumlelāh), and the two are paired the same way elsewhere (Isa 24:4; Hos 4:3; Joel 1:10). It is used both of plants and of women left without children, so it combines withering with bereavement.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 14:2 אֻמְלְל֖וּ they are languishing

    “Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

    Here: "Have withered / drooped." This verb is used for plants wilting and for a bereaved mother fading away (Jer 15:9). In a drought the picture is very physical: the town centres hang limp like scorched vines.

  2. Jeremiah 15:9 אֻמְלְלָ֞ה she has grown feeble

    The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. And the rest I will put to the sword in the presence of their enemies,” declares the LORD.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:8 אֻמְלָֽלוּ׃ ס they have languished

    The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.

    Here: "They have withered / gone limp." The word is used of plants wilting and of people wasting away, and it is the standard partner of "mourn" (Isa 24:4; 33:9; Jer 14:2; Hos 4:3). The walls sag like exhausted mourners.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 16:30 אֲמֻלָה֙ hot

    How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 4:3 וְאֻמְלַל֙ and he will wither

    Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.

    Here: 'And withers / languishes'. The word is used both for plants drooping and for people wasting away. Here it applies to everything living in the land. It is the standard partner word of 'abal ('mourn').

Joel · 2

  1. Joel 1:10 אֻמְלַ֥ל it has dried out

    The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.

    Here: 'Languishes' or 'withers', a word used both of drooping plants and of people who waste away in weakness or grief. It keeps the mourning picture going: the oil 'pines away'.

  2. Joel 1:12 אֻמְלָ֑לָה it has dried out

    The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

    Here: To droop and lose strength. The same verb describes a mother bereft of her children (1 Samuel 2:5; Jeremiah 15:9), so it can suggest human-like grief as well as a limp plant.

Nahum · 2

  1. Nahum 1:4 אֻמְלַ֤ל אֻמְלָֽל׃ it withers

    He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

    Here: "Withered is…" The verb is placed first for emphasis. It pictures plant life drooping and failing, and elsewhere it is often paired with "mourn", as if the land itself were grieving.

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