Hebrew word · H8375

תַּאֲבָה

leta'avah

longing

Longing, yearning. From the verb tā'av, 'to long for', which occurs only in Psalm 119:40 and 119:174, both times for longing after God's precepts and salvation.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

longing

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 119:20

Range of meaning

Longing, yearning. From the verb tā'av, 'to long for', which occurs only in Psalm 119:40 and 119:174, both times for longing after God's precepts and salvation.

Against the English

English 'longing' is accurate. The thing to know is how rare the word is: the noun occurs nowhere else.

Used elsewhere in the period

Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. It is sometimes compared to the far more common ta'ăwāh (with a different middle letter), meaning 'desire' or 'craving' (e.g. Numbers 11:4, the craving in the wilderness), and to 'āvāh, 'to be willing'. The exact relationship is uncertain. The Septuagint renders it 'to desire' (epithymēsai).

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 119:20 לְתַאֲבָ֑ה for longing

    My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.

    Here: This noun appears only here in the whole Hebrew Bible. Its verb (ta'av, 'to long for') appears only in this psalm too (vv. 40, 174). The preposition lə- marks the cause: crushed 'from' or 'with' longing.

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