בְּכִי
Bᵉkîy · H1065 · Hebrew · 30 occurrences
Meanings
-
weeping
Action by which someone express his/her grief or sorrow by shedding tears, crying loud and making appropriate gestures, because of some personal or national calamity, or for a dead person
ExamplesGenesis 45:2 Then he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard about it.
Deuteronomy 34:8 So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
Judges 21:2 So the people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening, and raised their voices and wept profusely.
How it’s used In 7 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
7 occurrences in 6 groups
- יַעֲזֵירJazer 2
- עַםpeople 1
- אֵבֶלmourning 1
- תַּחֲנוּןbegging for mercy 1
- תַּמְרוּרbitterness 1
- יmy 1
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
4 occurrences in 1 groups
- גָּדוֹלgreat, large 4
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- קוֹלvoice, sound 1
What it doesIt is the subject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- לוּןto spend the night, to grumble 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- נָשָׂאto lift up, to carry, to bear 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
15 occurrences in 3 groups
- בin/on/with 17
- מִןfrom 8
- לto/for 3
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
4 occurrences in 2 groups
- קוֹלvoice, sound 3
- יוֹםday, time 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 2 words
- אֵבֶל ʼêbel · H60 · mourning
- Both lexemes denote genuine grief-related states, and are natural near-synonyms in Hebrew for expressing sorrow: the target denotes 'weeping' specifically, while אֵבֶל denotes 'mourning' more broadly — two distinct words that could plausibly substitute for one another in contexts of expressing sorrow.
- אֲנִיָּה ʼănîyâh · H592 · mourning
- בְּכִי (Bᵉkîy, H1065) focuses on the physical act of weeping (tears, crying), while אֲנִיָּה (ʼănîyâh, H592) (only 2 occurrences) emphasizes lamentation/sorrow more broadly.
In the other Testament 1 word
- κλαυθμός klauthmós · G2805 · to weep, to wail, to lament
- Greek κλαυθμός (lamentation) directly translates Hebrew בְּכִי (weeping), serving as the Septuagint's standard rendering for the act of weeping or mourning.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Grieve002001002013
- The noun denotes weeping or continual mourning, as the sons of Israel wept for Moses 'for thirty days' in Deuteronomy 34:8 and the people at Bethel 'raised their voices and wept profusely' in Judges 21:2, fitting this domain's core sense of grief.
- Waterbodies001002008
- The abundance of tears the word can describe carries a figurative connection to flowing water, an extended sense linking it to this domain's category for water and its flow.
Word family 4 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H1065. beki בְּכִי noun masculineJdg 21:2 weeping — בְּכִי Jdg 21:2 Jdg 21:20t. (also…
בְּכִי noun masculineJdg 21:2 weeping — בְּכִי Jdg 21:2 Jdg 21:20t. (also construct Deu 34:8, etc.); בִּבְכִ֑י Gen 45:2; בֶּ֑כִי Isa 15:2 Isa 15:6t.; suffix בִּכְִיי֑ Psa 6:9; — weeping Psa 30:6; Isa 15:2, Isa 15:5; as accusative of congnate meaning with verb (with בכה) Jdg 21:2; 2Sa 13:36; 2Ki 20:3 = Isa 38:3 compare Isa 16:9 (בבכי) Jer 48:32 (מבכי); audible ב ׳קול Psa 6:9; Isa 65:19; Ezr 3:13 compare Jer 3:21; Jer 31:16; Isa 15:3 (בבכי יֹרֵד ייליל see Jer 9:17); so also Gen 45:2 (בב אתקֿלו ׳ויתן) & Jer 48:5 (בכי יעלה בבכי i.e. the sound of it shall ascend) — but text here suspicious, compare Isa 15:5; as disfiguring Job 16:16; || words of mourning Est 4:3 (מִסְמֵּד צוֺם, אֵבֶל,), Jer 31:9 (תחנונים compare Jer 3:21), Jer 9:10; Jer 31:15 (נהי), compare משׁה אבל בכיDeu 34:8 & Di on the passage; cotrition (humiliation) Joe 2:12 (מִסְמֵּד צום,), Isa 22:12 (שׂק חגור קרחה, מספד,), compare Mal 2:13 (דמעה אנקה,); of bitter weeping Isa 22:4 בַּבֶּ֑כִי אֲמָרֵר, compare Jer 31:15 (& Isa 33:7); יעזר בכי Isa 16:9; Jer 48:32 i.e. Ya`zer in Moab, compare יעזר proper name; Psa 102:10 (בב ׳שׁקוי מסכתי compare Psa 42:4; Psa 80:6 & Babylonian dîmtu maštîtî, tears (were) my drink ZimBP 34, 42). Trop., of trickling streams (נהרות) in mines — hindrance to miners Job 28:11.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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