יְגִיעַ
ye.gi.a
toil
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of יְגִיעַ (Ye-gi-a): Toil The Hebrew word יְגִיעַ carries the fundamental meaning of "toil"—physical or mental exertion directed toward productive work. With sixteen occurrences throughout the biblical text, this term occupies a notable but not dominant position in Hebrew vocabulary, suggesting it served a specific semantic function rather than serving as the primary word for general labor or work. The consistent translation as "toil" indicates the word emphasizes the strenuous, effortful dimension of work rather than work itself. This distinction matters: where other Hebrew terms might describe work neutrally, יְגִיעַ highlights the weariness, effort, and exertion involved. The relatively modest frequency of occurrence—sixteen times across the entire biblical corpus—suggests biblical authors deployed this word deliberately, likely when they wished to emphasize the exhausting or burdensome character of labor rather than labor in a generic sense. Without access to the specific contextual passages where this word appears, the data provided establishes only its core semantic range. The word's presence across sixteen separate biblical occurrences indicates it appeared meaningful enough to preserve across different texts and time periods, yet not so common as to be the default term for work or labor in Hebrew. This pattern suggests יְגִיעַ held particular rhetorical or theological weight when
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
16 total occurrences across the text
Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even may he be shaken out and emptied like this.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise.
Job 10:3Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Job 39:11Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
Job 39:16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
Psalms 78:46He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
Psalms 109:11Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
Psalms 128:2For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you.
Isaiah 45:14Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
Isaiah 55:2Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
Jeremiah 3:24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jeremiah 20:5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon.
Ezekiel 23:29They will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labor, and will leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.
Hosea 12:8Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”
Haggai 1:11I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground produces, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”
Genesis 31:42Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
Deuteronomy 28:33A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,