יֶ֫זַע
ye.za
sweat
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of Hebrew יֶזַע (yeza) — "Sweat" The Hebrew word יֶזַע (yeza) denotes sweat, the moisture secreted through the skin. Based on the lexical data, this term appears only once in the biblical text, which severely limits our ability to establish its full semantic range or contextual variations. The single occurrence means we cannot determine whether the word carried figurative meanings, emotional associations, or specialized theological significance beyond its literal physiological reference. The rarity of this particular term in the biblical corpus is noteworthy. While sweat itself would have been a common human experience in the ancient Mediterranean climate, the Hebrew Bible appears to employ this specific word-form sparingly. This single attestation suggests that either alternative Hebrew expressions were preferred for discussing perspiration, or that sweat held limited thematic importance in the texts that were preserved and canonized. Without multiple contexts to compare, we cannot assess whether יֶזַע was a neutral descriptor, whether it carried connotations of labor or distress, or whether it appeared in idiomatic expressions.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text