Hebrew word · H7330

רָזֶה

razah

lean

Lean, thin, meagre. It is used of land (Num 13:20, 'whether the land is fat or lean') and of animals. The related verb means 'to make lean, waste away' (Zeph 2:11; Isa 17:4, 'the fat of his flesh will grow lean').

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

lean

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 Ezekiel 34:20

Range of meaning

Lean, thin, meagre. It is used of land (Num 13:20, 'whether the land is fat or lean') and of animals. The related verb means 'to make lean, waste away' (Zeph 2:11; Isa 17:4, 'the fat of his flesh will grow lean').

Against the English

'Lean' is accurate. NLT-style 'scrawny' captures the starved look. 'Weak' (Septuagint 'asthenēs') adds the result: no strength to fight back.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 13:20 sets fat against lean as the basic opposites of plenty and scarcity, the same pairing as here. Isa 17:4 uses the verb for wasting away under judgment.

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 13:20 רָזָ֗ה lean

    Is the soil fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

    Here: 'Lean', like a scrawny animal. Elsewhere it describes thin sheep (Ezek 34:20). Here it means poor, unproductive soil.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 34:20 רָזָֽה׃ lean

    Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

    Here: 'Lean, scrawny': starved down. The leanness comes from being pushed away from the pasture (v. 21), not from any failing of its own. This is the injured party in God's case.

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