Hebrew word · H5678

עֶבְרָה

'evrah

fury

From the root 'avar, 'to pass over, overflow'. It means anger that spills over its limits: fury, outburst. It can also mean arrogance or overbearing insolence (Isa 16:6; Prov 21:24 'arrogant fury').

Appears 34 times in 34 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) outpouring, overflow, excess, fury, wrath, arrogance

1a) overflow, excess, outburst

1b) arrogance

1c) overflowing rage or fury

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 11:4

Range of meaning

From the root 'avar, 'to pass over, overflow'. It means anger that spills over its limits: fury, outburst. It can also mean arrogance or overbearing insolence (Isa 16:6; Prov 21:24 'arrogant fury'). It is used of human anger (a king's, Prov 14:35) and very often of God's anger breaking out in judgment.

Against the English

"Wrath" is a fair rendering, but to modern ears it sounds fixed and churchy. The Hebrew picture is a flood breaking out. NLT's "day of judgment" turns it into a courtroom scene and, for most readers, the end of the world.

How it drifted

Through the Latin Vulgate's 'dies irae' (Zeph 1:15) and the medieval hymn of that name, 'day of wrath' became a fixed Christian term for the Last Judgment.

Used elsewhere in the period

Zeph 1:18: 'neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's fury ('evrah)'. Ezek 7:19 says almost the same. These prophets apply the same idea to the fall of Judah and Jerusalem, a disaster within history. Job 21:30 uses 'day of fury' for the calamity that ought to fall on the wicked in this life. Prov 11:23 and 14:35 use 'evrah of the anger that falls in ordinary life.

From the study of Proverbs 22:8

Range of meaning

Overflowing anger, fury, outburst. It is related to the verb 'avar, 'to pass over, cross over', so it pictures anger that overflows its limits. It often carries a note of arrogance or insolence. It is used of God's wrath and of human rage.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'anger' is weaker. BSB/ESV/WEB 'fury' is closer. NIV's 'the rod they wield in fury' makes the human wielder explicit.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 21:24: the scoffer 'acts with arrogant fury' ('evrat zadon). Prov 14:35: the king's 'evrah falls on a shameful servant. Amos 1:11: Edom 'kept his fury forever'. Isa 14:6 (above): rulers striking peoples be'evrah.

From the study of Isaiah 10:6

Range of meaning

'Overflowing anger, fury, outburst.' It is usually linked to the root ʿ-b-r, 'to pass over, overflow,' so the picture is of anger that spills over its banks. It is often paired with ʾap ('anger,' literally 'nostril') and zaʿam ('indignation'), both of which appear in 10:5.

Against the English

KJV, ESV: 'people of my wrath.' NASB: similar. NIV: 'a people who anger me.' WEB: 'people who anger me.' BSB: 'a people destined for My rage.' The Hebrew is simply 'people of my fury.' It does not say whether they caused it or are destined for it. It names them by what they now attract.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 9:18 [Eng. 9:19] ('by the ʿebrâ of the LORD of hosts the land is scorched'); 13:9, 13; Hosea 5:10; Ezekiel 7:19; Proverbs 11:4.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1
  1. Genesis 49:7 וְעֶבְרָתָ֖ם and wrath their

    Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Job · 2
  1. Job 21:30 עֲבָר֣וֹת furi<es>

    Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

    Here: Plural, 'furies': rage that overflows. The plural makes it stronger, a day when wrath pours out in full.

  2. Job 40:11 עֶבְר֣וֹת [the] furi<es> of

    Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.

    Here: Plural, "the overflowings/outbursts of." It comes from the root for "crossing over": anger that bursts its banks. The plural points to repeated or many-sided outbursts.

Psalms · 5
  1. Psalm 7:6 בְּעַבְר֣וֹת on [the] furi<es> of

    Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

    Here: A plural, "furies" or "outbursts": anger that spills over its banks (from a root meaning "pass over"). The preposition can mean "against" or "because of" the enemies' rage. The plural suggests rage that is many-sided and keeps coming.

  2. Psalm 78:49 עֶבְרָ֣ה fury

    He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.

  3. Psalm 85:3 עֶבְרָתֶ֑ךָ fury your

    You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger.

    Here: "Your fury." The word comes from a root meaning "to cross over" or "overflow." It pictures anger that has spilled past its banks like a river in flood. It fits well with "gathered in": the flood that had spread over the land was pulled back.

  4. Psalm 90:9 בְעֶבְרָתֶ֑ךָ in fury your

    For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

  5. Psalm 90:11 עֶבְרָתֶֽךָ׃ fury your

    Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.

    Here: 'Your fury'. This is anger that overflows its banks. It repeats verse 9 ('all our days pass away in your fury'). The word is set in parallel with 'your anger' in the first line, so both lines are about the same reality.

Proverbs · 5
  1. Proverbs 11:4 עֶבְרָ֑ה fury

    Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.

    Here: Anger that boils over and breaks its banks. The word comes from a root meaning "to cross over, overflow." Here it means the moment when God's anger (or a ruler's anger acting for him) actually breaks out in disaster.

  2. Proverbs 11:23 עֶבְרָֽה׃ [is] fury

    The desire of the righteous leads only to good, but the hope of the wicked brings wrath.

    Here: Anger that boils over, from a root meaning to pass over or overflow. Earlier in this chapter (11:4) the same word names 'the day of wrath', a day of disaster in which wealth is useless. That is the likely picture here: what the wicked are counting on ends in fury.

  3. Proverbs 14:35 וְ֝עֶבְרָת֗וֹ and fury his

    A king delights in a wise servant, but his anger falls on the shameful.

    Here: 'And his fury': the king's anger, from a root meaning to 'pass over' or 'overflow.' It is anger that spills over its banks. Its sound ('evrah) echoes 'eved (servant) in the first line, a deliberate sound play.

  4. Proverbs 21:24 בְּעֶבְרַ֥ת in [the] overflowing of

    Mocker is the name of the proud and arrogant man—of him who acts with excessive pride.

    Here: From the root 'to cross over'. It means a surge that goes past its limits, often anger boiling over. Here it is pride that spills past every boundary, probably with an angry edge.

  5. Proverbs 22:8 עֶבְרָת֣וֹ fury his

    He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

    Here: 'His fury': anger that spills over its banks, often with a note of insolence. 'The rod of his fury' is the rod he swings in rage, the oppressor's violent power.

Isaiah · 6
  1. Isaiah 9:19 בְּעֶבְרַ֛ת by [the] wrath of

    By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.

  2. Isaiah 10:6 עֶבְרָתִ֖י wrath my

    I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

    Here: 'My fury': a people who are the object of God's rage. The bitter twist is that where 'my people' is expected, the phrase reads 'people of my fury.'

  3. Isaiah 13:9 וְעֶבְרָ֖ה and wrath

    Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.

    Here: 'And fury.' It comes from a root meaning 'to pass over' or 'overflow', so the picture is anger that breaks its banks. It is the same word as Zephaniah's 'a day of wrath is that day' (Zephaniah 1:15).

  4. Isaiah 13:13 בְּעֶבְרַת֙ in [the] wrath of

    Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger.

    Here: "In/at the fury of." The word suggests anger that overflows its banks. It repeats the 'evrah of v. 9, closing off the section.

  5. Isaiah 14:6 בְּעֶבְרָ֔ה in wrath

    It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

  6. Isaiah 16:6 וְעֶבְרָת֖וֹ and arrogance its

    We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his overflowing arrogance. But his boasting is empty.

    Here: 'And his overflowing'. The word comes from 'to pass over, overflow', and is often used for wrath that bursts its banks. With humans, as here, it is arrogance that spills over into insolent, aggressive behaviour, not just a feeling of anger.

Jeremiah · 2
  1. Jeremiah 7:29 עֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃ fury his

    Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’

  2. Jeremiah 48:30 עֶבְרָת֖וֹ arrogance its

    I know his insolence,” declares the LORD, “but it is futile. His boasting is as empty as his deeds.

Lamentations · 2
  1. Lamentations 2:2 בְּעֶבְרָת֛וֹ in wrath his

    Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her kingdom and its princes.

    Here: 'In his fury.' The noun comes from the root 'to cross over' and pictures anger that bursts its banks. It is anger in full flood, not a passing irritation.

  2. Lamentations 3:1 עֶבְרָתֽוֹ׃ fury his

    I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.

Ezekiel · 5
  1. Ezekiel 7:19 עֶבְרַ֣ת [the] fury of

    They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.

    Here: 'The fury of': anger that bursts its banks. Probably related to ʿābar, 'to cross over', so it is wrath that overflows its limits.

  2. Ezekiel 21:31 עֶבְרָתִ֖י wrath my

    I will pour out My anger upon you; I will breathe the fire of My fury against you; I will hand you over to brutal men, skilled in destruction.

  3. Ezekiel 22:21 עֶבְרָתִ֑י wrath my

    Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.

    Here: "My fury." The word is ʿevrah, anger that bursts past its limits. The fuel of the furnace is God's anger at the crimes listed earlier in the chapter.

  4. Ezekiel 22:31 עֶבְרָתִ֖י wrath my

    So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

  5. Ezekiel 38:19 עֶבְרָתִ֖י wrath my

    In My zeal and fiery rage I proclaim that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

Hosea · 2
  1. Hosea 5:10 עֶבְרָתִֽי׃ wrath my

    The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out My fury upon them like water.

  2. Hosea 13:11 בְּעֶבְרָתִֽי׃ ס in wrath my

    So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.

Amos · 1
  1. Amos 1:11 וְעֶבְרָת֖וֹ and fury his

    This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly.

    Here: 'And his fury': rage that overflows its banks and bursts out.

Habakkuk · 1
  1. Habakkuk 3:8 עֶבְרָתֶ֑ךָ [is] fury your

    Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?

    Here: An anger that spills over its banks, probably from the verb 'avar, 'to pass over, overflow'. It fits a line about waters: was God's fury flooding out against the flood?

Zephaniah · 2
  1. Zephaniah 1:15 עֶבְרָ֖ה fury

    That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

  2. Zephaniah 1:18 עֶבְרַ֣ת [the] fury of

    Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.

    Here: "The fury of." The word comes from a root meaning to cross over or overflow: anger that bursts its banks. It repeats the "day of fury" of 1:15.

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