Hebrew word · H6941
קְדֹרַנִּית
kedoranit
mournfully
Found only here. An adverb from qadar, "to be dark, dim, dirty": the sky going black (1 Kgs 18:45), the sun and moon darkening (Joel 2:10), and people in mourning, unwashed and in dark clothing. HALOT gives roughly "in mourning attire."
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
mournfully
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 Malachi 3:14
- Range of meaning
Found only here. An adverb from qadar, "to be dark, dim, dirty": the sky going black (1 Kgs 18:45), the sun and moon darkening (Joel 2:10), and people in mourning, unwashed and in dark clothing. HALOT gives roughly "in mourning attire."
- Against the English
BSB and KJV "mournfully" and others "like mourners" suggest an inner mood of sadness. YLT "gone in black" keeps the outward, visible picture.
- How it drifted
English "mournfully" describes how a person feels. The Hebrew describes what they looked like and what rites they performed: the public practices of grief and penitence.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The same root with "walk/go": Ps 35:14 ("like one mourning a mother, darkened, I bowed down"); Ps 38:6 ("all day I go about darkened"); Ps 42:9; 43:2 ("why must I go about darkened?"); Job 5:11; 30:28 ("I go about darkened, but not by the sun"). Kedar's tents are "dark" (Song 1:5). The Septuagint here has hiketai, "suppliants."
Where it appears
Malachi · 1
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Malachi 3:14 קְדֹ֣רַנִּ֔ית mournfully
You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts?
Here: "Darkly," an adverb found only here in the Bible. It comes from qadar, "to be dark, dirty, in mourning." It describes the visible look of mourning and penitence: dark sackcloth, unwashed faces, ashes, fasting. YLT's "gone in black" keeps the picture.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.