The meaning of Heavy; Heaviness in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
hev'-i, hev'-i-nes (kabhedh, de'aghah; lupe):
1. Literal:
Heavy (heave, to lift) is used literally with respect to material things, as the translation of kobhedh, "heaviness" (Proverbs 27:3, "a stone is heavy"); of kabhedh, "to be weighty" (I Samuel 4:18; II Samuel 14:26; Lamentations 3:7); of 'amac, "to load" (Isaiah 46:1 the King James Version; compare Matthew 26:43; Mark 14:40; Luke 9:32, "Their eyes were heavy"); bareomai, "to be weighed down."
2. Figuratively:
It is used (1) for what is hard to bear, oppressive, kabhedh (Exodus 18:18; Numbers 11:14; I Samuel 5:6, I Samuel 5:11; Psalms 38:4; Isaiah 24:20); motah, a "yoke" (Isaiah 58:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "bands of the yoke"); qasheh, "sharp," "hard" (I Kings 14:6, "heavy tidings"); barus, "heavy" (Matthew 23:4); (2) for sad, sorrowful (weighed down), mar, "bitter" (Proverbs 31:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "bitter"); ra', "evil" (Proverbs 25:20); ademoneo, literally, "to be sated," "wearied," then, "to be very heavy," "dejected" (Matthew 26:37, of our Lord in Gethsemane, "(he) began to be sorrowful and very heavy," the Revised Version (British and American) "sore troubled"); "ademonein denotes a kind of stupefaction and bewilderment, the intellectual powers reeling and staggering under the pressure of the ideas presented to them" (Mason, The Conditions of our Lord's Life on Earth); compare Mark 14:33; (3) morose, sulky, as well as sad, car, "sullen," "sour," "angry" (I Kings 20:43; I Kings 21:4, "heavy and displeased"); (4) dull, kabhedh (Isaiah 6:10, "make their ears heavy"; Isaiah 59:1, "neither (is) his ear heavy"); (5) "tired" seems to be the meaning in Exodus 17:12, "Moses' hands were heavy" (kabhedh); compare Matthew 26:43 and parallels above.
Heavily is the translation of kebhedhuth, "heaviness" (Exodus 14:25), meaning "with difficulty"; of qadhar, "to be black," "to be a mourner" (Psalms 35:14 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "I bowed down mourning"); of kabhedh (Isaiah 47:6).
Heaviness has always the sense of anxiety, sorrow, grief, etc.; de'aghah, "fear," "dread," "anxious care" (Proverbs 12:25, "Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop," the Revised Version margin "or care"); kehah, "to be feeble," "weak" (Isaiah 61:3, "the spirit of heaviness"); panim, "face," "aspect" (Job 9:27 the King James Version, "I will leave off my heaviness," the Revised Version (British and American) "(sad) countenance"; compare 2 Esdras 5:16; The Wisdom of Solomon 17:4; Ecclesiasticus 25:23); ta'aniyah, from 'anah, "to groan," "to sigh" (Isaiah 29:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "mourning and lamentation"); tughah, "sadness," "sorrow" (Psalms 119:28; Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 14:13); ta'anith, "affliction of one's self," "fasting" (Ezra 9:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "humiliation," margin "fasting"); katepheia, "dejection," "sorrow" (literally, "of the eyes") (James 4:9, "your joy (turned) to heaviness"); lupe, "grief" (Romans 9:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "great sorrow"; II Corinthians 2:1, the Revised Version (British and American) "sorrow"); lupeomai (I Peter 1:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "put to grief"); for nush, "to be sick," "feeble" (Psalms 69:20, the Revised Version margin "sore sick"), and ademoneo (Philippians 2:26 the Revised Version (British and American) "sore troubled"), the King James Version has "full of heaviness." "Heaviness," in the sense of sorrow, sadness, occurs in 2 Esdras 10:7,8,24; Tobit 2:5; lupe (Ecclesiasticus 22:4, the Revised Version (British and American) "grief"; 30:21, "Give not thy soul to heaviness," the Revised Version (British and American) "sorrow"; 1 Macc 6:4); lupeo (Ecclesiasticus 30:9, the Revised Version (British and American) "will grieve thee"; penthos (1 Macc 3:51, etc.).
The Revised Version has "heavier work" for "more work" (Exodus 5:9); "heavy upon men" for "common among men" (Ecclesiastes 6:1); for "were heavy loaden" (Isaiah 46:1), "are made a load"; for "the burden thereof is heavy" (Isaiah 30:27), "in thick rising smoke."
W. L. Walker
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