Hebrew word · H7879

שִׂיחַ

siach

complaint

Related to the verb śîaḥ, 'to muse, ponder, talk over, rehearse aloud'. The noun covers a range: musing or meditation (Ps 104:34), anxious concern, and complaint or lament (Job 7:13; 10:1; 21:4; 23:2; Ps 55:2; 64:1). The common element is the mind turning something over and putting it into words.

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) meditation, complaint, musing

1a) plaint, complaint

1b) following are uncertain

1b1) musing

1b2) anxiety, trouble

1b3) talk

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 Psalm 142:2

Range of meaning

Related to the verb śîaḥ, 'to muse, ponder, talk over, rehearse aloud'. The noun covers a range: musing or meditation (Ps 104:34), anxious concern, and complaint or lament (Job 7:13; 10:1; 21:4; 23:2; Ps 55:2; 64:1). The common element is the mind turning something over and putting it into words. In lament contexts it is the troubled talk of a burdened person. Hebrew 'meditation' was often spoken aloud under the breath, not silent.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB have 'complaint'. YLT has 'meditation'. Each catches one end of the range. Today 'complaint' tends to suggest whining, griping or a formal grievance. 'Meditation' suggests calm, quiet reflection. Śîaḥ here is neither. It is the agitated, circling thoughts of someone in trouble, spoken aloud.

How it drifted

'Complaint' was a reasonable choice in 1611, when the word still commonly meant lament or an expression of grief (compare the older literary 'complaint', a poem of mourning). In ordinary modern speech it has narrowed toward grumbling or making a formal objection.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 1:16 (Hannah: 'out of the abundance of my śîaḥ and my vexation I have spoken'). Ps 102 heading. Job 10:1: 'I will give free course to my śîaḥ; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.' Ps 55:2: 'I am restless in my śîaḥ and I moan.' Ps 104:34 uses the same word for pleasing meditation. The Septuagint here translates it as deēsis, 'petition, plea', which shows that ancient readers took it as prayer, not grumbling.

From the study of Job 10:1

Range of meaning

Musing, anxious thought, troubled talk, lament or complaint. It comes from a root meaning to ponder aloud, rehearse, talk over, or pour out what weighs on one.

Against the English

'Complaint' in modern English often suggests whining or griping. The Hebrew word is closer to an anguished, pent-up lament. In this context it also leans toward a formal grievance, since the next verse speaks of God's 'lawsuit' against him (10:2).

How it drifted

English 'complaint' has narrowed toward petty dissatisfaction. Its older legal sense, a case brought before a judge, fits Job better.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hannah: 'out of the abundance of my sîaḥ and vexation I have spoken' (1 Sam 1:16). Ps 102 heading: 'when he pours out his sîaḥ before the LORD'. Ps 142:2: 'I pour out my sîaḥ before him.' Job 7:13 and 9:27 use it for the same grievance.

From the study of Job 23:2

Range of meaning

From the verb śîaḥ, 'to muse, ponder, talk over, pour out one's concern'. The noun covers inner musing or meditation (Ps 104:34), troubled preoccupation (1 Sam 1:16, where Hannah speaks 'out of my great concern'), and an anguished complaint poured out to God (Ps 64:1; 102 title; 142:2). It is talk that rises from something weighing on the mind.

Against the English

English versions almost all say 'complaint'. That is acceptable if the reader hears 'formal grievance' or 'lament'. It misleads if the reader hears 'grumbling'.

How it drifted

Modern English 'complaint' has shifted toward petty dissatisfaction or whining. The older sense of a formal grievance, a 'complaint' laid before a court, is closer, and Job 23 is soaked in courtroom language.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job uses the word several times for his own speech: 7:13 ('my couch will ease my complaint'), 9:27 ('if I say, I will forget my complaint'), 10:1 ('I will give free rein to my complaint'), 21:4 ('is my complaint to a man?'). In the Psalms the same word heads laments brought to God: Ps 102 is 'a prayer of an afflicted one, when he… pours out his complaint before the LORD.'

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 1:16 שִׂיחִ֛י complaint my

    Do not take your servant for a wicked woman, for all this time I have been praying out of the depth of my anguish and grief.”

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 18:27 שִׂ֧יחַ musing

    At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”

    Here: Being absorbed in thought or talk, or being preoccupied with something. Baal is 'lost in thought' or 'busy with his concerns'. Some scholars hear a crude double meaning as well (see debates).

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 9:11 שִׂיחֽוֹ׃ talk his

    When Jehu went out to the servants of his master, they asked, “Is everything all right? Why did this madman come to you?” “You know his kind and their babble,” he replied.

    Here: "His talk," in the sense of the stuff he goes on about. Set beside "madman," it comes across as rambling not worth repeating, and that is exactly the impression Jehu wants to give.

Job · 5

  1. Job 7:13 בְ֝שִׂיחִ֗י in complaint my

    When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

  2. Job 9:27 שִׂיחִ֑י complaint my

    If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’

  3. Job 10:1 שִׂיחִ֑י complaint my

    “I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

    Here: The troubled talk Job has turned over and over. It is a lament poured out to God, like Hannah's in 1 Sam 1:16 and the sufferer's in the heading of Ps 102, not petty grumbling.

  4. Job 21:4 שִׂיחִ֑י [is] complaint my

    Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?

  5. Job 23:2 שִׂחִ֑י complaint my

    “Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

    Here: 'My complaint': the anguished case Job keeps pouring out about his suffering. In this chapter it slides toward a legal case he wants to argue before God (vv. 3–7).

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 55:2 בְּשִׂיחִ֣י in complaint my

    Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and distraught

  2. Psalm 64:1 בְשִׂיחִ֑י in complaint my

    For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice of complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

    Here: 'In my complaint': the anxious, troubled speech of someone pouring out a distress that has been churning inside. It is the normal word for lament in the Psalms and Job. It does not suggest petty grumbling.

  3. Psalm 104:34 שִׂיחִ֑י meditation my

    May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

    Here: "My musing / my outpoured talk." Not silent thought but voiced, often emotional speech. Here it points back to the whole poem just sung: everything the psalmist has said about creation.

  4. Psalm 142:2 שִׂיחִ֑י complaint my

    I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.

    Here: The troubled thoughts a person keeps going over, spoken aloud. It is not grumbling against God. It is the raw content of a worried mind put into words and brought to him.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 23:29 שִׂ֗יחַ complaint

    Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

    Here: Talk that pours out of a troubled mind: complaint, moaning, anxious rumination (as Hannah's 'complaint' in 1 Sam 1:16). Here: the drinker's grumbling and self-pity, perhaps also his rambling talk.

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