Aramaic word · H8631

תְּקֵף

utekif

to grow strong

To be or become strong, mighty, firm. Of things and people it means grow powerful. Of a decree it means be made binding (the related form in 6:7). Of the heart or spirit it means become hard or obstinate.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

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

What it means

1) to grow strong, be hardened

1a) (P'al)

1a1) to grow strong, be hardened

1a2) to grow arrogant (fig)

1b) (Pael) to make strong, make firm, make stringent

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 Daniel 5:20

Range of meaning

To be or become strong, mighty, firm. Of things and people it means grow powerful. Of a decree it means be made binding (the related form in 6:7). Of the heart or spirit it means become hard or obstinate.

Against the English

KJV and BSB say 'hardened'. YLT has 'was strong'. Both are right, and the point is that it is one word. The strength God gave turns into hardness against God. 'Hardened' alone loses the link to the tree and the king who 'grew strong' in chapter 4.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 4:11, 20 (the tree 'grew and became strong'). Daniel 4:22 ('it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong'). In the Aramaic Targums, which are ancient translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, this root regularly translates the Hebrew ḥāzaq, the verb for Pharaoh's heart being 'made strong/hard' in Exodus (e.g. Targum Onqelos at Exod 7:13). An Aramaic-speaking reader could therefore have heard an echo of Pharaoh.

From the study of Daniel 4:11

Range of meaning

To be or become strong, mighty, firm. In the causative form it means to make firm or enforce (an edict, 6:7). Related nouns are təqōp̄ ('might', 4:30) and the adjective taqqîp̄ ('strong, mighty', 2:40; 3:33; 7:7).

Against the English

English 'strong' is accurate. What it misses is that within Daniel the word becomes morally loaded: strength that hardens into arrogance.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 4:22: 'you… have grown great and strong (ūṯəqip̄t).' Daniel 4:30: Nebuchadnezzar boasts of Babylon built 'by the might (təqāp̄) of my power'. Daniel 5:20: 'his heart was lifted up and his spirit grew hard/strong (təqip̄at) to act proudly.' Hebrew cognate tqp, 'prevail, overpower', appears in Job 14:20 and Ecclesiastes 4:12.

From the study of Daniel 4:22

Range of meaning

To be or grow strong, firm, mighty. Also to be made firm or binding (of a decree, 6:7), and to be hardened or obstinate (5:20). Related noun tĕqāp/tōqep: might, power.

Against the English

Rendered 'become strong' or 'grown strong' in all major versions. That is accurate, but on its own it misses the word's link to obstinate self-assertion elsewhere in Daniel.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 4:11, 20 (the tree 'grew strong'); 5:20 ('his spirit grew strong / hardened so that he acted proudly'); 6:7 ('to make firm an injunction'). It matches Hebrew tāqēp, 'prevail, overpower'.

Where it appears

Daniel · 5

  1. Daniel 4:11 וּתְקִ֑ף and it grew strong

    The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.

    Here: 'And it grew strong': mighty, firm, powerful. The word is double-edged. In 5:20 the same verb describes Nebuchadnezzar's spirit 'growing hard' in arrogance.

  2. Daniel 4:20 וּתְקִ֑ף and it grew strong

    The tree you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached the sky and was visible to all the earth,

    Here: "And it grew strong". The word suggests firmness, power and hardness. Verse 22 uses it again for the king ("you have become strong"). Paired with "grew great", it gives size together with might.

  3. Daniel 4:22 וּתְקֵ֑פְתְּ and you have grown strong

    you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.

    Here: 'And you have grown strong.' Again the tree's verb from v. 11 (ûtĕqip). In Daniel this root is later tied to arrogance: in 5:20 Nebuchadnezzar's 'spirit grew strong (tiqpat) to act proudly'.

  4. Daniel 5:20 תִּֽקְפַ֣ת it grew strong

    But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.

    Here: 'Grew strong, became hard.' It is the same verb used for the great tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream that 'grew strong' (4:11, 20), and for the king himself, 'you have grown strong' (4:22). His strength turned into stubbornness.

  5. Daniel 6:7 וּלְתַקָּפָ֖ה and to make stringent

    All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

    Here: 'And to make strong': to make the ban firm and enforceable, with no loopholes. It looks ahead to v. 8's demand that the decree be unchangeable.

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