עֱנוּת

From the study of Psalm 22:24

Range of meaning

Both words come from the root ʿnh ("to be bowed down, humbled, afflicted"). ʿĀnî is the poor or lowly person: economically weak, socially powerless, oppressed, with no protector. In the Psalms it also becomes the self-description of the faithful sufferer who depends on God alone. ʿĔnût (used only here) is the condition of such a person, their affliction or misery.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV keep the sound-play with "the affliction of the afflicted". BSB's "torment" and NIV's "suffering" lose the echo. NLT's "the needy" brings out the poverty side but loses the sense of being crushed or oppressed.

How it drifted

Modern "afflicted" usually suggests illness or private pain. ʿĀnî is first of all a social position: lowly, powerless, at the mercy of stronger people.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 22:25, Deut 24:14–15 and Ps 9:18 use ʿānî for the poor whom the law protects. Ps 34:6 says "this poor man (ʿānî) cried, and the LORD heard", a very close parallel. The Greek translators usually render ʿānî with ptōchos ("beggar, poor"), as here. Qumran's "poor" (ʾebyônîm, ʿănāwîm) texts show how this vocabulary was later used as a self-designation of the faithful.