Hebrew word · H5791

עָוַת

me'uvat

to pervert

Basic sense: to bend, make crooked, twist out of true. In the intensive (piel) form used here: to falsify, pervert, subvert, put someone in the wrong.

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be bent, be crooked, bend, make crooked, pervert

1a)(Piel)

1a1) to make crooked, falsify, pervert, subvert

1a2) to bend, make crooked

1b) (Pual) thing bent (participle)

1c) (Hithpael) to bend oneself

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 Job 8:3

Range of meaning

Basic sense: to bend, make crooked, twist out of true. In the intensive (piel) form used here: to falsify, pervert, subvert, put someone in the wrong. Used of rigging scales (Amos 8:5, 'falsifying the balances of deceit'), of subverting a person's lawsuit (Lamentations 3:36), of twisting the way of the wicked (Psalm 146:9), and of what is crooked and cannot be straightened (Ecclesiastes 1:15; 7:13).

Against the English

'Pervert' is accurate but has narrowed in modern English toward sexual meaning, which is irrelevant here. The Hebrew picture is physical and concrete: taking something straight and bending it. NLT's 'twist' captures the image well.

How it drifted

'Pervert' in 16th–17th century English meant to turn aside or distort (Latin pervertere, 'to turn the wrong way'); its main modern sense has shifted, though the legal phrase 'pervert justice' survives.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is a key word in Job. Bildad here insists God does not 'bend' justice; later Job answers with the very same verb: 'know then that God has put me in the wrong (ʿiwwetani)' (Job 19:6). Elihu repeats Bildad almost word for word: 'the Almighty will not pervert justice' (lo-yeʿawwet mishpat, Job 34:12). LXX renders the first clause with adikeō, 'act unjustly'.

From the study of Psalm 119:78

Range of meaning

In the Piel stem (the intensive form): to bend, make crooked, falsify, pervert, wrong someone, especially by distorting justice. Used of crooked things (Eccl 1:15; 7:13), rigged scales (Amos 8:5), and perverted judgment (Job 8:3; 34:12).

Against the English

KJV 'dealt perversely with me', BSB/NASB 'subvert(ing) me', ESV/NIV 'wronged/wronging me', WEB 'overthrown me'. 'Wronged' is accurate but flat. 'Overthrown' adds a violent defeat the verb does not clearly say. 'Subvert' and 'dealt perversely' keep the picture of something bent crooked.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 3:35–36 is the closest parallel: 'to subvert a man in his lawsuit (leʿawwēt ʾādām berîvô), the Lord does not approve.' Job 8:3: 'Does God pervert (yeʿawwēt) justice?' Job 19:6: 'God has put me in the wrong.'

From the study of Psalm 146:9

Range of meaning

To bend, make crooked, twist or subvert. It is used of perverting justice: 'Does God pervert (ye'avvet) justice?' (Job 8:3; also 34:12) and 'to subvert a man in his lawsuit' (Lam 3:36). In Amos 8:5 merchants 'make crooked' their lying scales. In Eccl 7:13 and 1:15 it means 'what is crooked cannot be made straight'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT 'turns upside down', BSB/NIV/NLT 'frustrates', NASB 'thwarts', ESV 'brings to ruin'. All of these get across that the wicked fail, but most lose the road picture: their path is bent so it leads nowhere or somewhere else.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 8:3; 34:12; Lam 3:36; Amos 8:5; Eccl 1:15; 7:13; Ps 119:78. The LXX has aphaniei, 'he will make vanish, destroy'.

Where it appears

Job · 4

  1. Job 8:3 יְעַוֵּ֣ת יְעַוֵּֽת־ does he pervert

    Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

    Here: An intensive form of a verb meaning to make crooked what should be straight, as a merchant rigs scales or a court twists a case. The tense is open-ended: 'does / would he ever'. The question expects the answer 'Never!'

  2. Job 19:6 עִוְּתָ֑נִי he has wronged me

    then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

  3. Job 34:12 יְעַוֵּ֥ת he perverts

    Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 119:78 עִוְּת֑וּנִי they have subverted me

    May the arrogant be put to shame for subverting me with a lie; I will meditate on Your precepts.

    Here: 'They have bent me crooked.' The verb is used for twisting justice and rigging a person's case, so the picture is of a legal or social wrong. They have warped the psalmist's standing.

  2. Psalm 146:9 יְעַוֵּֽת׃ he makes crooked

    The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

    Here: 'He makes crooked.' He twists their road so it does not lead where they meant it to go. The same verb is used for perverting justice and for rigging scales, so the people who bend things for others have their own road bent. It is the last and shortest line, ending the list with judgement.

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:15 מְעֻוָּ֖ת [something] bent

    What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

  2. Ecclesiastes 7:13 עִוְּתֽוֹ׃ he has bent it

    Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?

    Here: 'He has bent it.' The verb form is an intensive perfect with 'it' attached at the end, so God is the subject and the bending is complete. The word means twisting something out of true. Elsewhere it is used for crooked scales and twisted justice, so it has an edge. It is stronger than 'shaped differently'.

  3. Ecclesiastes 12:3 וְהִֽתְעַוְּת֖וּ and they will bend themselves

    on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly,

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:36 לְעַוֵּ֤ת to subvert

    to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 8:5 וּלְעַוֵּ֖ת and to falsify

    asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

    Here: 'And bending' or twisting: making something crooked that should be straight. Here it means rigging the scales, the third trick.

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