Hebrew word · H5464

סַגְרִיר

sagrir

rain

Heavy, steady rain; a rainstorm or rainy spell. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, and its meaning comes from related words: Jewish Aramaic sagrira and Syriac sagrira mean a heavy or persistent rain.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

steady or persistent rain

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 27:15

Range of meaning

Heavy, steady rain; a rainstorm or rainy spell. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, and its meaning comes from related words: Jewish Aramaic sagrira and Syriac sagrira mean a heavy or persistent rain.

Against the English

BSB, ESV and WEB say 'rainy day'. KJV's 'very rainy day' and NASB's 'day of steady rain' try to bring out the intensity. NIV's 'rainstorm' brings out the force.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here in the Bible. Later Aramaic and Syriac use (e.g. the Targums and Syriac literature) supports 'heavy rain'. The Greek translation renders it 'wintry day', and the Latin Vulgate 'day of cold', both placing it in the winter rainy season.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 27:15 סַגְרִ֑יר persistent rain

    A constant dripping on a rainy day and a contentious woman are alike—

    Here: Used only here in the Hebrew Bible. Related Aramaic and Syriac words mean a heavy, persistent rainstorm. It is a winter day when the rain does not let up, so you cannot leave the house to get away from the drip.

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