StrongerBible

az

עַז

HebrewH5794“strong, fierce, ...”

Appears 24 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 49:3Gen 49:7Exo 14:21Num 13:28Num 21:24Deu 28:50Jdg 14:14Jdg 14:182Sa 22:18Neh 9:11Psa 18:17(18)Psa 59:3(4)Pro 18:23Pro 21:14Pro 30:25Sng 8:6Isa 19:4Isa 25:3Isa 26:1Isa 43:16Isa 56:11Ezk 7:24Dan 8:23Amo 5:9
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeAHZadjective

What az means

marked by overpowering force: strong or mighty, and, turned against someone, fierce, harsh, or brazen.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its core this is one word for overwhelming force, and its exact shade depends on who is on the receiving end of that force. The same word can praise a mighty wind, a fortified city, or a love as unstoppable as death, and it can also condemn a violent temper, a cruel tyrant, or a shameless face. Translators reach for strong, mighty, fierce, harsh, or brazen depending on the setting, but in Hebrew it is a single idea seen from different sides.

Applied to nature or to friends, the force is neutral or admirable: a strong east wind, mighty waters, a strong people, a strong city, ants that are not powerful yet act with resolve. Turned against a victim, the same force becomes menacing: fierce anger, a cruel king, vehement wrath, a rich man who answers roughly.

A third use freezes the word into a set phrase, literally strong of face, meaning hard-faced and unashamed. Such a person meets others with defiance and shows no deference. This brazen sense clusters in later texts and eventually became a standard label for the shameless.

Ancient and modern readers alike have felt this range and disagreed over which shade a given verse intends. The early Greek translators rendered the word at least five different ways, and commentators still debate individual verses, but the underlying meaning of the word itself is well understood.

Nuances

1astrong or mighty: possessing great power, said of natural forces, fortified places, and formidable beings, with no hostility implied.
Gen 49:3Num 13:28Num 21:24Jdg 14:14Jdg 14:182Sa 22:18Neh 9:11Psa 18:17(18)Pro 30:25Isa 25:3Isa 26:1Amo 5:9
1bfierce, harsh, or cruel: force turned aggressively against someone, as in violent anger, tyrannical rule, or rough treatment.
Gen 49:7Pro 18:23Pro 21:14Isa 19:4Isa 56:11
Isa 56:11

Whether strong of appetite in Isaiah 56:11 means insatiably greedy or shameless.

  • majorityInsatiably greedy: strong intensifies appetite, supported by the following clause that they know no satiety.; Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 56-66, Anchor Bible 19B (2003); John Goldingay, Isaiah 56-66, ICC (2014); Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40-66, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (2012)
  • minorityShameless: the dogs have no shame, aligning the phrase with the brazen-faced idiom.; Septuagint (Isaiah 56:11), rendering shameless of soul; Vulgate (Isaiah 56:11), canes impudentissimi
1cbrazen, shameless: hard-faced defiance that shows no shame or deference, in the set phrase strong of face.
Deu 28:50Dan 8:23

What scholars say about az

The standard lexica and theological dictionaries (BDB, HALOT, TDOT [Zobel], TLOT [Stolz]) treat the adjective as belonging to a single root cluster with the noun and verb of the same consonants, whose semantic center is intense force that polarizes with context: protective or admirable might when applied to allies and nature, hostile fierceness when applied to enemies, and moral brazenness in the fixed collocation with words for face and appetite. No major reference work adopts the older proposal of two homonymous roots (strong vs. fierce/impudent); the comparative Semitic evidence tells against a split, since both poles are already present across cognates (Akkadian ezezu/ezzu specialize in fury, Ugaritic uses the root of cosmic combatants and of the fierce goddess Anat, Arabic develops an added precious/honored nuance). The Septuagint renders the word at least five ways (ischyros, krataios, skleros, thrasys, authades, anaides), evidence that the polysemy was felt already in antiquity. The brazen-of-face idiom clusters in Deuteronomistic curse, late wisdom, and apocalyptic and later fossilizes as a rabbinic term for the shameless. Individual passages remain debated: Genesis 49:7 (fierce vs. the versions' arrogant), Song of Songs 8:6 (cosmic might vs. inexorable ferocity), and Isaiah 56:11 (insatiably greedy vs. shameless).

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. עזז / עזlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner-Stamm), s.v. עזlexicon
  • H.-J. Zobel, "עזז," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) XIdictionary
  • F. Stolz, "עזז to be strong," in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT) IIdictionary
  • CAD E, s.vv. ezezu, ezzu; W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handworterbuch 2lexicon
  • G. del Olmo Lete and J. Sanmartin, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language, 3rd ed. (2015)lexicon
  • John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (2000)monograph
  • Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (2001)commentary
  • Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, JPS Torah Commentary (1989)commentary
  • Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 56-66, Anchor Bible 19B (2003)commentary
  • Marvin H. Pope, Song of Songs, Anchor Bible 7C (1977)commentary
  • J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs, OTL (2005)commentary
  • Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, NAC 6 (1999)commentary
  • Jeremy Schipper, "Narrative Obscurity of Samson's HYDH in Judges 14.14 and 18," JSOT 27/3 (2003): 339-353article
  • F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, "The Song of Miriam," JNES 14 (1955): 237-250article

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of עַז

m s absolute

עָז, עַז

Gen 49:3, Gen 49:7, 2Sa 22:18, Psa 18:17, Pro 30:25, Isa 25:3, Isa 26:1, Amo 5:9

m p absolute

עַזִּים, עַזִים

Neh 9:11, Isa 43:16, Ezk 7:24, Psa 59:3

f s absolute

עַזָּה

Exo 14:21, Pro 21:14, Sng 8:6

f p absolute

עַזּוֹת

Pro 18:23

m p construct

עַזֵּי

Isa 56:11

m s construct

עַז

Deu 28:50