אֶפֶס
ʼepheç · H657 · Hebrew · 44 occurrences
Meanings
-
there is not, it is not, without
State of non-existence of a person, place or event
ExamplesDeuteronomy 32:36 “For the LORD will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
2 Samuel 9:3 Then the king said, “Is there no one remaining of the house of Saul to whom I could show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan, one who is disabled in both feet.”
2 Kings 14:26 For the LORD saw the misery of Israel, which was very bitter; for there was neither bond nor free spared, nor was there any helper for Israel.
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ends of the earth > everywhere
Literally: ends of the earth; hence: the entire earth including its farthest corners
ExamplesPsalm 72:8 May he also rule from sea to sea, And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
Proverbs 30:4 Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son’s name? Surely you know!
Zechariah 9:10 And I will eliminate the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be eliminated. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
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ends of the earth > all people on earth
Literally: ends of the earth; hence: all people on earth, including those living in its remotest corners
ExamplesDeuteronomy 33:17 “As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he will gore the peoples All at once, to the ends of the earth. And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”
1 Samuel 2:10 “Those who contend with the LORD will be terrified; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed.”
Psalm 2:8 ‘Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession.
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nothing
State of being non-existent, implying that an existing object has been destroyed, or that an object exists in people's imagination only; regarded therefore as totally insignificant
ExamplesIsaiah 34:12 Its nobles—there is no one there Whom they may proclaim king— And all its officials will be nothing.
Isaiah 40:17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
Isaiah 41:12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
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however, yet
Particle connecting two propositions and denoting that Y limits the expectations that were evoked by X
ExamplesNumbers 13:28 “Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And indeed, we saw the descendants of Anak there!
Numbers 22:35 But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went along with the representatives of Balak.
Numbers 23:13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there.”
How it’s used In 6 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
19 occurrences in 6 groups
- אֶרֶץland, earth, ground 14
- יָדhand, power 1
- לְאֹםpeople 1
- מָקוֹםplace 1
- עֵץtree, wood 1
- תִּקְוָהhope 1
What it doesIt is the subject
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- רָאָהto see 2
- יָרֵאto be afraid, to fear, to be in awe of 1
- שׁוּבto return, to turn back 1
What is done to itIt is the object
5 occurrences in 4 groups
- אָמַרto say 2
- דִּיןto judge 1
- הָיָהto be, to become 1
- קוּםto arise 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
11 occurrences in 8 groups
- נִיI 3
- עָזַבto forsake, to leave 2
- עָצָרto restrain, to shut up, to stop 2
- אִישׁman, person, each 1
- מְחִתָּהruin 1
- אֱלֹהִיםGod, gods 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
13 occurrences in 5 groups
- בin/on/with 9
- עַדto, as far as, until 6
- מִןfrom 4
- לto/for 2
- כlike/as 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- מַיִםwater 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 3 words
- זוּלָה zûwlâh · H2108 · except, besides
- Both words function as restrictive particles with overlapping senses (“only,” “save,” “but,” “beside, none beside”) and can substitute for each other in restrictive contexts.
- בִּלְתִּי biltîy · H1115 · not, without, except
- בִּלְתִּי and the target lexeme are both restrictive or negative particles used to express limitation, exception, or negation, and function as near-synonyms in this role.
- בְּלִימָה bᵉlîymâh · H1099 · not, without, destruction
- בְּלִי (‘nothing’) and the target lexeme (‘none, not any, a thing of nought’) both denote non-existence or negation, functioning as near-synonyms in expressing absence.
In the other Testament 1 word
- πλήν plḗn · G4133 · but, nevertheless, except
- Greek πλήν (plḗn, G4133) serves as the standard adversative/exceptive particle rendering Hebrew אֶפֶס (ʼepheç, H657) in its 'but, nevertheless, only, except' discourse-connector sense, sharing the contrastive-limiting semantic function across both languages.
Semantic domains 4 entries
- Non-Exist002002002006
- אֶפֶס describes the non-existence or absence of something, as a restrictive "nothing" or "no."
- Location002002001
- The word can mark the outer limit or extremity of a place, an end point in a spatial sense.
- People001001003
- It is used of the end of a people or company, marking the extreme edge of a group being observed.
- Restrictors004007
- אֶפֶס functions as a restrictive particle, "only" or "nevertheless," limiting the scope of a preceding statement.
Word family 2 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H657. ephes אֶ֫פֶס אָ֑פֶס noun masculine properly ceasing, hence 1 end, extremity, only…
אֶ֫פֶס אָ֑פֶס noun masculine properly ceasing, hence
1 end, extremity, only in the poetic phrase אֶרֶץ אַפְסֵי (Psa 59:14 ׳א הארץ) ends, extreme limits, of the earth, used especially hyperbolically: Deu 33:17; 1Sa 2:10; Mic 5:3; Jer 16:19; Psa 2:8; Psa 59:14; Psa 72:8 (= Zec 9:10); + כָּלֿ Isa 45:22; Isa 52:10b (= Psa 98:3b) Psa 22:28; Psalm 67:8; Pro 30:4.
2 Expressing non-existence:
a. as substantive. (mostly a rare poetic synonym of אַיִן): Isa 34:12 and all his princes אָ֑פֶס יִהְיוּ shall become nought, (Isa 41:29, Isa 41:12 וּכְאֶפֶס כְאַיִן יִהְיוּ; Isa 40:17 וָתֹהוּ מֵאֶפֶס (|| כְּאַיִן) as made of nought and worthlessness are they accounted by him, Isa 41:24 (readמֵאָ֑פֶס מָּעָלְכָם, || מֵאַיִן see אֶפַע); Isa 52:4 and Asshur oppressed him בְּאֶפֶס for nought.
b. as particle of negation, prop. cessation of. . ! (compare ֗֗֗ אֵין nought of...), very rare in prose (2Sa 9:3), chiefly a poetic synonym of ׃אֵין Isa 5:8 מָקוֺם אֶפֶס עַד till there is an end of place = till there is no place (compare אֵין עַָד Psa 40:13), Amo 6:10 (compare אָֽיִן Jdg 4:20), Deu 32:36 (hence, in prose, 2Ki 14:26), Isa 45:6 (compare אָין Isa 43:11) Isa 43:14; Isa 46:9; Isa 54:15; עוֺד וְאַפְסִי אֲנִי Zep 2:15; Isa 47:8, Isa 47:10 is probably to be rendered, 'I am, and there is none besides (so Ges Ew Di etc.), the י being 'paragogic' as in זוּלָתי etc. (Ges§ 90, 3 a Ew§ 211 b), compare עוֺד וְאֵין Isa 45:5-6, Isa 45:18, Isa 45:21; but according to De the י is suffix of 1 singular 'I am, and I am nought besides' (i.e. and I am nought besides my all-sufficient self). — בְּאֶפֶס (like בְּאֵין, q. v.) without: Pro 14:28; Pro 26:20; Job 7:6; Dan 8:25.
c. as adverb of limitation: (a) only: Num 22:35 (compare אַח Num 22:20) Num 23:13. (b) כִּי אֶפֶס save that, howbeit (qualifying a preceding statement): Num 13:28; Deu 1:5; Jdg 4:9; Amo 9:8 (+ 1Sa 1:5 ᵐ5 We Sta Dr). So אֶפֶס alone 2Sa 12:14 (the following כִּי signifying because).
[אֹ֫פֶס noun [masculine] only in the
dual אָפְסָ֑ים not ׳א; see Baer), literally the two extremities, i.e. either the soles of the feet (so AW Ges; compare Aramaic מִּיסְּתָא, , or the ankles (so ᵑ9 ᵑ7 ᵑ6, & most): only Eze 47:2 א ׳מֵי water of (i.e. reaching to) the soles (or ankles); compare Eze 47:4 מָתְנָ֑יִם מֵי water reaching to the loins.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 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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