Hebrew word · H6183

עָרִיף

ba'arifeiha

cloud

A word found only in this verse in the whole Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from related words.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

cloud, mist

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 5:30

Range of meaning

A word found only in this verse in the whole Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from related words. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'clouds' or 'cloud-mass, overcast sky', linking it to ʿaraf 'to drip, trickle' (Deut 32:2; 33:28) and ʿarafel 'thick darkness, heavy cloud' (Exod 20:21; Ps 97:2).

Against the English

BSB, WEB and ESV give 'clouds'. KJV gives 'heavens', which fits the idea of the sky. YLT gives 'its abundance', which seems to be a guess and has no clear support in the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its probable relative ʿarafel is the 'thick darkness' where God is at Sinai (Exod 20:21) and the cloud around his throne (Ps 97:2). The Greek and Latin translators were clearly unsure of the word: the Septuagint paraphrases, and the Vulgate has 'in its gloom' (caligine).

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 5:30 בַּעֲרִיפֶֽיהָ׃ פ by clouds its

    In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.

    Here: A word found only here in the Bible. It probably means heavy, dripping storm-clouds: it seems related to a verb for 'drip' (as when the skies drip dew, Deut 32:2) and to the word for 'thick darkness'. 'Its' is feminine and points back to 'the land': the land's own sky has clouded over.

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