Hebrew word · H6973

קוּץ

katzah

to loathe

To feel loathing, disgust, sickened dread; to be sick of. It is a visceral recoil, sometimes mixed with fear.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

1) to be grieved, loathe, abhor, feel a loathing or abhorrence or sickening dread

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to feel a loathing at, abhor

1a2) to feel a sickening dread

1b) (Hiphil)

1b1) to cause sickening dread

1b2) to cause loathing

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: To feel loathing, disgust, sickened dread; to be sick of. It is a visceral recoil, sometimes mixed with fear.
Against the English: KJV, WEB and ESV 'be weary of' sounds to a modern ear like being tired of something or worn out. YLT 'be vexed' and NIV 'resent' get the hostility but lose the disgust. BSB/NASB 'loathe' is the closest.
How it drifted: In 1611 'to be weary of' could mean 'to be sick of, to find intolerable' (the KJV uses it for qutz in Gen 27:46, 'I am weary of my life'). Since then 'weary' has weakened to 'tired.' Separately, the Septuagint's 'do not lose heart' (ekluou), quoted in Hebrews 12:5, pulled the line toward discouragement.
Used elsewhere in the period: Gen 27:46 (Rebekah: 'I loathe my life because of the Hittite women'); Num 21:5 ('we loathe this worthless food'); Exod 1:12 and Num 22:3 (Egypt and Moab 'were in dread' of Israel); Lev 20:23 (YHWH 'abhorred' the nations); Isa 7:16. Like here, the verb usually takes be- before what is loathed.

Range of meaning: To feel revulsion, loathing, sickened dread: an aversion felt in the gut. Gen 27:46 (Rebekah: 'I loathe my life because of the Hittite women'); Exod 1:12 (the Egyptians 'came to dread' the multiplying Israelites); Num 22:3 (Moab 'dreaded' Israel); Lev 20:23 (God 'abhorred' the Canaanite nations).
Against the English: 'Loathe/detest/hate' are close. YLT's 'hath been weary of' is too weak: this is nausea, not boredom.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Septuagint renders it with prosochthizō, 'be vexed, be disgusted', the same Greek verb it uses for God's anger with the wilderness generation in Ps 95:10 (LXX 94:10), which Hebrews 3:10, 17 picks up.

Range of meaning: To feel loathing, disgust or revulsion, or a sickening dread. The word sits where fear and nausea meet. 'I loathe my life because of the Hittite women' (Rebekah, Gen 27:46). 'We loathe this worthless bread' (Num 21:5). 'Moab was in dread (vayyaqots) because of the sons of Israel' (Num 22:3). Some dictionaries list two separate roots or senses here (dread and loathing). Others treat it as one feeling of repelled alarm.
Against the English: 'Came to dread' (BSB, NIV), 'started to dread' (WEB) and 'were in dread of' (ESV) bring out the fear. The LXX's 'they loathed' (ebdelyssonto) and YLT's 'vexed' bring out the revulsion. KJV's 'were grieved' meant 'were distressed/vexed' in 1611, but today it sounds like mourning.
How it drifted: In early modern English 'grieve' could mean to be troubled, harassed or vexed. Since then the word has narrowed to sorrow over loss, so KJV readers may picture Egyptians feeling sad.
Used elsewhere in the period: Num 22:3 is the closest parallel and uses the same phrase. 'Moab was in great fear of the people because they were many, and Moab felt dread (vayyaqots) before the sons of Israel'. The setting is the same: a ruler alarmed by Israel's numbers. The LXX of Exod 1:12 uses bdelyssomai, 'to find abhorrent'.

Genesis · 1

Genesis 27:46 קַ֣צְתִּי I loathe

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

Exodus · 1

Exodus 1:12 וַיָּקֻ֕צוּ and people felt dread

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

Here: 'And they came to feel a sick dread.' The word mixes fear with physical revulsion, a feeling that turns the stomach. The same form describes Moab's panic at Israel's numbers in Num 22:3.

Leviticus · 1

Leviticus 20:23 וָאָקֻ֖ץ and I loathed

You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

Here: 'And I felt loathing / was sickened.' A gut-level revulsion, the feeling of being fed up and nauseated. It follows naturally on v. 22's image of the land vomiting out its inhabitants: the land retches and God is revolted.

Numbers · 2

Numbers 21:5 קָ֔צָה it loathes

and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

Here: Gut-level revulsion or sickened dread. The perfect form describes a settled state: 'we have come to loathe' it and are sick of it.
Numbers 22:3 וַיָּ֣קָץ and it felt dread

and Moab was terrified of the people because they were numerous. Indeed, Moab dreaded the Israelites.

1 Kings · 1

1 Kings 11:25 וַיָּ֙קָץ֙ and he loathed

Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout the days of Solomon, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled over Aram with hostility toward Israel.

Proverbs · 1

Proverbs 3:11 תָּ֝קֹ֗ץ you loath

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;

Here: To recoil in disgust or sickened dread, the gut reaction of Numbers 21:5 ('we loathe this miserable food'). It names the inner response that goes with the outward refusal in the first line: don't push it away, and don't be revolted by it.

Isaiah · 2

Isaiah 7:6 וּנְקִיצֶ֔נָּה and let us demolish it

‘Let us invade Judah, terrorize it, and divide it among ourselves. Then we can install the son of Tabeal over it as king.’
Isaiah 7:16 קָ֔ץ [are] feeling dread

For before the boy knows enough to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

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