StrongerBible

yegi'a

יְגִיעַ

HebrewH3018labour, toil, ...

Appears 16 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 31:42Deu 28:33Neh 5:13Job 10:3Job 39:11Job 39:16Psa 78:46Psa 109:11Psa 128:2Isa 45:14Isa 55:2Jer 3:24Jer 20:5Ezk 23:29Hos 12:8(9)Hag 1:11
Root family
Word studyyeh-GEE-ahnoun

What yegi'a means

hard, wearying labor, and by extension the earnings, produce, or property that such labor yields

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

The word names hard, tiring work and, just as often, what that work produces. Hebrew slides easily from the sweat of labor to the harvest, wages, or wealth it earns, because to an ancient farmer or herder the two were inseparable: your toil simply was your bread.

In its first shade it is the effort itself. Jacob points to "the toil of my hands" that God saw during his hard years working for Laban (Genesis 31:42), and an ostrich labors over eggs she then abandons, so "her toil is in vain" (Job 39:16).

Far more often the word points past the work to its yield: the food a household eats (Psalm 128:2), the crops locusts devour (Psalm 78:46), the wealth of Egypt (Isaiah 45:14), or the earnings strangers plunder (Psalm 109:11). This is why context matters so much: rendering it "labor" everywhere can mislead, since when the text says locusts ate their "labor" it means their crops, not their effort.

A near neighbor is עָמָל, labor felt as trouble and misery, while the verb יָגַע of the same root describes toiling to the point of exhaustion.

Nuances

1atoil: wearying physical labor, the effort itself
TranslatabilityDirect
Gen 31:42Job 39:11Job 39:16
1bthe fruit of labor: earnings, produce, or property gained by work
Deu 28:33Neh 5:13Psa 78:46Psa 109:11Psa 128:2Isa 45:14Isa 55:2Jer 3:24Jer 20:5Ezk 23:29Hos 12:8(9)Hag 1:11

What scholars say about yegi'a

The lexica (BDB, HALOT) treat יְגִיעַ as a noun from the root יגע "to labor, grow weary," with two connected senses: the toil or wearying labor itself, and by metonymy the product, gain, or acquired property that labor yields. The productive sense dominates the occurrences, typically in the idiom יְגִיעַ כַּפַּיִם "the labor of the hands" for what the hands earn. TDOT and TWOT note the same act-to-result extension, common to Hebrew nouns of activity, and observe that the word frequently appears in contexts of loss, where the fruit of one's labor is seized, devoured, or spent in vain.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. יְגִיעַlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. יְגִיעַlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. יגע (yāgaʿ)theological-dictionary

All attested forms of יְגִיעַ

m s construct

יְגִיעַ, יְגִיַע

Job 10:3, Psa 128:2, Isa 45:14, Jer 3:24, Hag 1:11, Gen 31:42

m s construct

יְגִיעֲךָ, יְגִיעֶךָ

Deu 28:33, Job 39:11

m s construct

יְגִיעָהּ

Job 39:16, Jer 20:5

m s construct

וּמִיגִיעוֹ, יְגִיעוֹ

Neh 5:13, Psa 109:11

m p construct

יְגִיעַי

Hos 12:8

m s construct

יְגִיעֵךְ

Ezk 23:29

m s construct

וִיגִיעֲכֶם

Isa 55:2

m s construct

וִיגִיעָם

Psa 78:46