Hebrew word · H7475

רַעְיוֹן

ra'yon

striving

Found only in Ecclesiastes (1:17; 2:22; 4:16). It is closely related to רְעוּת (reʿut) in the refrain 'a chasing after wind' (1:14 and elsewhere). Scholars render it 'striving, pursuit, desire, preoccupation, worry.'

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

longing, striving

Aramaic equivalent: ra.yon (רַעְיוֹן "thought" H7476)

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 Ecclesiastes 2:22

Range of meaning

Found only in Ecclesiastes (1:17; 2:22; 4:16). It is closely related to רְעוּת (reʿut) in the refrain 'a chasing after wind' (1:14 and elsewhere). The root רעה can mean 'to shepherd, pursue, desire.' In Aramaic, the noun רַעְיוֹן means 'thought(s),' sometimes troubling ones (Dan 2:29–30; 4:19; 5:6, 10; 7:28, where Daniel says 'my thoughts greatly alarmed me'). Scholars render it 'striving, pursuit, desire, preoccupation, worry.'

Against the English

BSB, WEB and NASB-type versions have 'striving'; YLT has 'thought'; KJV has 'vexation'; NIV has 'anxious striving'; NLT has 'anxiety.' Each catches a different part of a word that sits between chasing after something and being consumed by thinking about it.

How it drifted

KJV's 'vexation' goes back to the Latin Vulgate's 'adflictio spiritus' ('affliction of spirit'). In 1611 'vexation' meant real torment or distress. Today it sounds like mild irritation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint Ecclesiastes translates it προαίρεσις (proairesis), 'purpose, deliberate choice, pursuit,' and uses the same word in the refrain 'pursuit of wind.' Biblical Aramaic (Daniel) has the 'thoughts' sense. The Vulgate reads it as 'affliction.'

From the study of Ecclesiastes 4:16

Range of meaning

Raʿyôn occurs in Hebrew only in Ecclesiastes (1:17; 2:22; 4:16). The near-twin reʿût rûaḥ appears seven times (1:14; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6; 6:9). It is derived either from rāʿâ "to shepherd, graze, pursue", giving "herding the wind" or "chasing wind", or from Aramaic raʿyôn "thought, desire, longing" (Dan 2:29–30; 7:28), giving "desire for wind". Hosea 12:1 (Heb 12:2) has "Ephraim herds (rōʿeh) wind", which supports the herding image.

Against the English

KJV "vexation of spirit" makes this an inner frustration of the human spirit. Modern versions ("pursuit / striving / chasing after the wind") recover the outward image of wind that cannot be caught.

How it drifted

The Vulgate's afflictio spiritus ("affliction of spirit") apparently connected the word to raʿ "bad" or rāʿaʿ "to be broken". The KJV followed that tradition. Through the KJV, "vexation of spirit" entered English idiom as a phrase about emotional distress.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has proairesis pneumatos, "a choosing/purpose of wind", which shows that early translators heard "desire or intention" in the word. Aquila and Symmachus have renderings along the lines of "feeding on / pursuit of wind" (as reported in the commentaries).

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:17 רַעְי֥וֹן [is] a striving of

    So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

  2. Ecclesiastes 2:22 וּבְרַעְי֖וֹן and in [the] striving of

    For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

    Here: 'And in the striving of.' A word found only in Ecclesiastes. It is related to the book's refrain 'a chasing after wind,' and in Aramaic it means 'thoughts.' It points to the mental straining, planning and preoccupation that go along with physical work.

  3. Ecclesiastes 4:16 וְרַעְי֥וֹן and a striving of

    There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

    Here: "And a chasing of" or "a longing for". The image is effort spent pursuing or herding something that cannot be caught.

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