Word study
Weary
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: weary, wearied, wearies. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “weary” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- יָגַע yâgatoil, grow or be wearytranslated this way 15 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H3021Verb · Translated: wearied 6, weary 5, labor 4, wear 2Full study and all 25 verses →
2 Samuel 23:10 but Eleazar stood his ground and struck the Philistines until his hand grew weary and stuck to his sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. Then the troops returned to him, but only to plunder the dead.
Psalm 6:6 I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- לָאָה lââhbe weary, impatienttranslated this way 11 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3811Verb · Translated: wearied 4, weary 4, wearies 2, try the patience 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Genesis 19:11 And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
Job 4:2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking?
- עָיֵף âyêphfaint, wearytranslated this way 8 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5889Adjective · Translated: weary 7, exhausted 4, famished 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:18 how they met you on your journey when you were tired and weary, and they attacked all your stragglers; they had no fear of God.
Job 22:7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
- יָעֵף yâêphweary, fainttranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3287Adjective · Translated: weary 2, become exhausted 1, faint 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Judges 8:15 And Gideon went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your possession, that we should give bread to your weary men?’”
Isaiah 50:4 The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of discipleship, to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
- יָעַף yâaphbe weary, fainttranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3286Verb · Translated: grow tired 2, weary 2, faint 1, grows faint 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Jeremiah 2:24 a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.
Habakkuk 2:13 Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
Greek words (New Testament)
- κοπιάω kopiáōI grow weary, toiltranslated this way 3 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G2872Verb · Translated: labor 5, worked 4, weary 2, worked hard 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
John 4:6 Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
- ἐκκακέω ekkakéōI am faint, am wearytranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1573Verb · Translated: lose heart 3, grow weary 2, discouraged 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Galatians 6:9 Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
2 Thessalonians 3:13 But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.