Hebrew word · H8463

תַּחֲלֻאִים

tachalu'im

disease

Sicknesses or diseases, especially grievous, lingering ones.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

diseases

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 103:3

Range of meaning

Sicknesses or diseases, especially grievous, lingering ones. It is a rare plural noun from the root ḥlʾ, "to be sick." Its five occurrences: Deut 29:22 (the diseases YHWH sends on a land under covenant curse), 2 Chr 21:19 (Jehoram's fatal bowel disease, "severe sicknesses"), Jer 14:18 ("the sicknesses of famine"), Jer 16:4 ("deaths of diseases"), and here.

Against the English

"Diseases" is accurate. The English does not show that elsewhere the word belongs to grim settings: curses, famine, fatal illness.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its other uses tie it to covenant curse and judgement, which echoes the curse lists of Deuteronomy 28 ("every sickness and every plague," vv. 59–61). The Septuagint has nosous, "diseases," and the Vulgate infirmitates.

From the study of Jeremiah 14:18

Range of meaning

From the root ḥlʾ/ḥlh, 'to be sick, weak'. It is always plural, 'diseases, sicknesses', often meaning severe or wasting disease. It is used of covenant-curse diseases and of illnesses God heals.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'them that are sick with famine' and BSB 'those ravaged by famine' turn the abstract noun into people. The Hebrew says 'the sicknesses of famine' are what you see. The diseases stand for the bodies they waste: swollen bellies, dysentery and the illnesses that follow hunger. The person-based rendering is a fair way to make the sense clear.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 29:22 (Eng. 29:22): 'the sicknesses with which the LORD has afflicted it', a covenant-curse context. Jer 16:4: 'they will die of deadly diseases… by sword and famine they will be consumed.' Ps 103:3: 'who heals all your diseases.' 2 Chr 21:19.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 29:22 תַּ֣חֲלֻאֶ֔יהָ diseases its

    Then the generation to come—your sons who follow you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land—will see the plagues of the land and the sicknesses the LORD has inflicted on it.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 21:19 בְּתַחֲלֻאִ֣ים in diseases

    This continued day after day until two full years had passed. Finally, his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died in severe pain. And his people did not make a fire in his honor as they had done for his fathers.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 103:3 תַּחֲלֻאָֽיְכִי׃ diseases your

    He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,

    Here: "Your sicknesses." This rare word is always plural and is used for serious, wasting illnesses, including the diseases threatened as covenant curses (Deut 29:22). Again the "your" is feminine, addressed to the speaker's own self.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 14:18 תַּחֲלוּאֵ֣י diseases of

    If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”

    Here: 'Sicknesses of…'. This is an abstract plural, the diseases themselves, and it stands for the wasting, starving bodies. It also echoes ḥalḵê ('pierced') in sound.

  2. Jeremiah 16:4 תַחֲלֻאִ֜ים diseases

    “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”

    Here: From the root 'to be sick'. The phrase 'deaths of diseases' means deaths by sickness, the slow, wasting kind. Jeremiah 14:18 speaks of 'the diseases of famine', the illnesses of a starving city under siege.

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