Hebrew word · H578

אָנָה

ve'anu

to lament

To moan or lament aloud. The verb occurs only twice (here and Isa 19:8, where the fishermen of Egypt 'will moan'). Related nouns, ʾănîyâ and taʾănîyâ, mean 'moaning, lamentation' (Isa 29:2; Lam 2:5, 'mourning and moaning').

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to mourn

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 Isaiah 3:26

Range of meaning

To moan or lament aloud. The verb occurs only twice (here and Isa 19:8, where the fishermen of Egypt 'will moan'). Related nouns, ʾănîyâ and taʾănîyâ, mean 'moaning, lamentation' (Isa 29:2; Lam 2:5, 'mourning and moaning').

Against the English

'Lament' (KJV, BSB, ESV) is fine. 'Moan' or 'groan' is closer to the sound the word suggests.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lamentations 2:5 pairs taʾănîyâ waʾănîyâ ('mourning and moaning') for the fall of Jerusalem. The same root gives us a sound-pair describing the same disaster.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 3:26 וְאָנ֥וּ and they will lament

    And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

    Here: A rare verb, found only here and in Isaiah 19:8. It means audible grief, a groaning or moaning sound. The 'and' plus past-tense form is the normal Hebrew way to describe what will happen, so it carries on the prediction of verse 25: 'they will moan.'

  2. Isaiah 19:8 וְאָנוּ֙ and they will lament

    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.

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