יֶשַׁח
𐤉𐤔𐤇
yeshach
H3445 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Faintness or feeling of hunger, often indicating physical weakness due to lack of food. In the single occurrence in the Hebrew Bible, it connotes being brought low or cast down as a result of extreme hunger or deprivation.
Semantic Range
hunger, faintness due to lack of food, collapse from deprivation, being cast down (metaphorical sense)
Root / Etymology
The etymology is uncertain. Traditionally, it has been connected to an unused root related to 'gaping' or 'opening wide', possibly with the implication of an empty, gaping stomach (cf. Job 30:24-25). This connection is proposed due to similarity with Arabic and other Semitic roots with meanings related to 'gaping' or 'hunger,' but there is no direct attestation of this root in Hebrew outside this nominal form.
Historical & Contextual Notes
The term יֶשַׁח appears only once in the Hebrew Bible (Job 30:24), where it characterizes the diminished state of a person brought low by extreme want, widely considered to refer to hunger or abject poverty. The context suggests not simply an empty stomach, but a condition of being cast down and rendered vulnerable by deprivation. English translations have often rendered this as 'hunger' or 'destruction,' but the nuance is more of collapse due to deprivation. Unlike common words for hunger (רָעָב, raʿav), יֶשַׁח is unique to this passage and its meaning is inferred contextually. The rarity of the term and uncertainty of the root mean it does not have the more general sense of famine or food shortage that רָעָב carries elsewhere in the corpus. Later translation traditions (e.g. Greek Septuagint) often render it more abstractly as 'fall' or 'ruin,' reflecting ambiguity in the underlying Hebrew. The concept overlaps partially with terms for 'casting down' (e.g. שָׁחַח), but focuses on the result of hunger or deprivation rather than the act of casting down itself.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from an unused root meaning to gape (as the empty stomach); hunger; casting down.
Bantu Hebrew
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+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
ישׁח (y-š-ḥ) — to gape, to open wide, to hunger
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3445-01 |
וְ/יֶשְׁחֲ/ךָ֖ | veyeshechakha | HC/Ncmsc/Sp2ms |
and your hunger will remain | and your hunger-faintness | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3445-01 |
Micah 6:14 | וְ/יֶשְׁחֲ/ךָ֖ | veyeshechakha | HC/Ncmsc/Sp2ms |
and your hunger will remain | and your hunger-faintness |