Hebrew word · H5590

סָעַר

yeso'er

to rage

The root names violent storm movement. The related noun se'arah means a tempest or whirlwind, as in Elijah taken up 'in a whirlwind' (2 Kgs 2:1, 11). This verse is its only use in this inward-turning form, applied to a heart.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to storm, rage

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to storm

1a2) stormy, growing storm (participle)

1b) (Niphal) to be enraged

1c) (Piel) to storm away

1d) (Pual) to be driven by storm

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 2 Kings 6:11

Range of meaning

The root names violent storm movement. The related noun se'arah means a tempest or whirlwind, as in Elijah taken up 'in a whirlwind' (2 Kgs 2:1, 11). The verb describes the sea growing stormy (Jonah 1:11, 13), an enemy 'storming' out to scatter (Hab 3:14), the city 'storm-tossed' (Isa 54:11), and God scattering people with a whirlwind (Zech 7:14). This verse is its only use in this inward-turning form, applied to a heart.

Against the English

BSB and NIV say 'enraged', ESV and WEB say 'troubled', KJV says 'sore troubled' and YLT says 'tossed about'. 'Enraged' keeps the anger but loses the panic and confusion. 'Troubled' keeps the agitation but sounds too mild. The Hebrew image holds both: a gale inside him.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its use for literal storms at sea (Jonah 1) and the noun for whirlwind (2 Kgs 2) make the storm picture clear. Hebrew dictionaries (BDB, HALOT) give 'be enraged' or 'be stirred up' for this verse, reading the image figuratively. The Greek Septuagint uses a verb of being stirred or set in commotion.

From the study of Habakkuk 3:14

Range of meaning

To storm or rage as a gale does; to be tossed by a storm (Jonah 1:11, 13); in the passive, to be scattered as by a whirlwind (Zech 7:14). The related nouns saʿar and sĕʿārâ mean 'storm, tempest, whirlwind'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB give 'came out as a whirlwind', YLT 'are tempestuous', BSB and NASB 'stormed (out/in)'. 'Stormed out' keeps the weather image best in a modern idiom, though 'stormed' in English can now mean simply 'left angrily'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Zechariah 7:14 uses the same verb for God scattering Judah 'with a whirlwind among the nations'. That ties storming to scattering, exactly the pairing in this verse.

From the study of Zechariah 7:14

Range of meaning

To storm, rage, be tossed like the sea. In its intensive forms it means to blow something away by a storm. The related noun se'arah means a storm wind or tempest: the wind that takes Elijah up (2 Kgs 2:1, 11) and the storm God speaks from in Job 38:1.

Against the English

Most English versions say 'scattered them with a whirlwind' (KJV, BSB, WEB, NIV); NASB says 'storm wind'. YLT's 'toss' keeps the violent, sudden motion. 'Whirlwind' is one word in Hebrew, the verb itself. There is no separate noun.

How it drifted

Modern readers may hear 'whirlwind' as a tornado or as a figure of speech for a busy pace. The Hebrew picture is a gale that strips a threshing floor.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hos 13:3: Ephraim will be 'like chaff that is storm-driven from the threshing floor' (same root). Hab 3:14: enemies 'stormed out to scatter me.' Isa 54:11 calls exiled Jerusalem 'storm-tossed' (so'arah). Jeremiah and Isaiah use the storm of the LORD as an image of judgment (Jer 23:19; 30:23).

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 6:11 וַיִּסָּעֵר֙ and it was enraged

    For this reason the king of Aram became enraged and called his servants to demand of them, “Tell me, which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

    Here: From the root behind the Hebrew word for a storm wind. Here it pictures the king's inner self thrown about like a sea in a gale: furious, but also alarmed and unsettled. The verb form opens the scene as the next step in the story.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 54:11 סֹעֲרָ֖ה it is storm tossed

    “O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.

    Here: 'Storm-tossed', 'whirled about by tempest'. A passive form: things have been done to her. Coming right after the flood of Noah in v. 9, the storm picture fits: she has been battered like something caught in a gale at sea.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 13:3 יְסֹעֵ֣ר [which] it is storm-driven

    Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.

    Here: '(That) is swept away by a storm.' The verb is passive and comes from the word for a gale or whirlwind. This is stronger than an ordinary winnowing breeze: the chaff is whirled off violently.

Jonah · 2

  1. Jonah 1:11 וְסֹעֵֽר׃ and storming

    Now the sea was growing worse and worse, so they said to Jonah, “What must we do to you to calm this sea for us?”

  2. Jonah 1:13 וְסֹעֵ֖ר and storming

    Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was raging against them more and more.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:14 יִסְעֲר֖וּ they storm

    With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.

    Here: 'They storm' or 'they come on like a whirlwind'. The verb comes from the noun for a gale. The ongoing-action form paints the charge as a scene in motion, which is why translations add 'when'.

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 7:14 וְאֵ֣סָעֲרֵ֗ם and I will storm away them

    But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

    Here: A verb built from the word for a violent storm. God says he blew his people away the way a gale scatters chaff. The form is an intensive one with an unusual vowel, and it sits in a past narrative, so it is read as 'I scattered them by a storm.'

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