יָנָה
to oppress
also: suppress, treat violently, maltreat, vex fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”).
Form
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H3238 appears in the Book of Isaiah — 1 distinct verse. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Isaiah
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
ינה (yânâh) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to oppress.” It first appears in Exodus 22:21. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 19 verses — uncommon. Ezekiel dominates its distribution — 7 of 19 verses. Read the stem: it spans 2 stems, including Qal and Hiphil. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3238 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 19
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 19 distinct verses.
- 8 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 8 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,563
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,563 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 19 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 19 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 13 verses · 68%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 5 verses · 26%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1 verse · 5%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 4 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Oppressing 3×, Hath oppressed 2×
- American Standard Version†: Oppressing 4×, Hath wronged 2×, Ye shall not wrong 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Oppress 4×, Oppressor 2×, Take advantage 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Oppress 5×, You shall 4×, Do 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3238 across 21† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H3238 across 20† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H3238 across 19† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3238 across 24† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 2 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
ינה I dove (NH id.
ינה II m. prophet, according to 2 K 14
ינה III suppress (?) oppress, maltreat (NH Hiph. vex with words
Qal
- Impf. 1 pl. sf. נִינָם ψ 74:8; Pt. יוֹנָה Je 25:38 + 3 times + ψ 123:4 (v. infr.); suppress (?), sq. acc. ψ 74:8 (dub.; Ges§ 76f); elsewhere oppress; Pt. abs. as adj. הָעִיר הַיּוֹנָה Zp 3:1; subst. f. coll. הַיּוֹנָה oppressors Je 25:38 (but read חֶרֶב for חֲרוֹן, with 𝔊 Ew Hi Gf Ke etc., as 46:16; 50:16); ψ 123:4 Qr לִגְאֵי יוֹנִים proudest oppressors (st. cstr. in superlat., cf. Ges§ 133, 3, R. 1.; yet most follow Kt לגאייונים, and der. from גַּאֲיוֹן q.v. p. 145 supr.) e.g. Psalms 74:8
Hiphil
- Pf. הוֹנָה Ez 18:12, 16; הוֹנוּ 22:7, 29; Impf. יוֹנֶה 18:7; 2 ms. תּוֹנֶה Ex 22:20; תּוֹנֶנּוּ Dt 23:17; יוֹנוּ Ez 45:8; תּוֹנוּ Lv 19:33 + 2 times; תֹּנוּ Je 22:3; Inf. sf. הוֹנֹתָם Ez 46:18; Pt. מוֹנַ֫יִךְ Is 49:26;—oppress, maltreat, sq. acc., especially of ill-treatment of poor and weak, partic. of the גֵּר, the ‘stranger,’ sojourner, by the rich and powerful, Ex 22:20 (JE), Lv 19:33; 25:14, 17 (H), Dt 23:17; Je 22:3; Ez 18:7, 12, 16; 22:7, 29; 45:8; 46:18; of a foreign oppressor only Is 49:26. e.g. Ezekiel 18:12
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. n.f. dove (NH id.; Aramaic id., ܝܰܘܢܳܐ )—abs. יוֹנָה Gn 8:8 + 20 times; cstr. יוֹנַת ψ 56:1; sf. יוֹנָתִי Ct 2:14 + 2 times; pl. יוֹנִים Na 2:8 + 6 times; cstr. יוֹנֵי Ez 7:16 (v. infr.);—dove Gn 8:9, 10, 11, 12 (all J); often of offerings, בֶּן־יוֹנָה Lv 12:6 (P; an individual of the species; ‖ תֹּר); בְּנֵי (ה)יונה (‖ תֹּרִים) 1:14; 5:7, 11; 12:3; 14:22, 30; 15:14, 29 Nu 6:10 (all P); חֲרֵי יוֹנִים dove’s dung 2 K 6:25 (Kt, yet v. GeiUrschrift 409); in various similes: Ephr. is כְּיוֹנָה פּוֹתָה like a silly dove Ho 7:11 (allowing itself to be snared); sim. of retun of exiles, like eager flight of doves 11:11, of ships with white outspread sails Is 60:8; אֵבֶר כַּיּוֹנָה ψ 55:7; v. also כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה 68:14; sim. of fugitive Moab Je 48:28; also כְּיוֹנֵי הַגֵּאָיוֹת Ez 7:16 like the doves of the valleys (but on txt v. Co, who emends כיונים הוֹגִיּוֹת, but regards phr. as gloss); sim. of mourning כְּקוֹל יוֹנִים Na 2:8; without קוֹל, הגה כיונים Is 38:14; 59:11 (from mournful note); fig. of beauty (only Ct): עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים thine eyes are (those of) doves Ct 1:15; 4:1, v. also v 12; term of endearment, יוֹנָתִי my dove Ct 2:14; 5:2; 6:9. Elsewhere only ψ 56:1 (title) יוֹנַח אֵלֶם רְחֹקִים (עַל) prob. name of melody: To ‘the dove of distant terebinths’ (read אֵלִים for אֵלֶם; v. אֵלֶם supr. p. 48, and Baeψψ, p. xvii).—On sanctity of dove among Semites, v. RSSem.i. 202, 275.
II. n.pr.m. prophet, according to 2 K 14:25 he was הַנָּבִיא, son of אֲמִתַּי, from גַּת הַחֵפֶר, and predicted the recovery of Isr.’s territory which Jerob. II effected; he is also the principal figure of the Book of Jonah: 1:1 (בֶּן־אֲמִתַּי), v 3, 5, 7, 15 2:1(×2), 2, 11; 3:1, 3, 4; 4:1, 5, 6(×2), 8, 9.
I. vb. suppress (?) oppress, maltreat (NH Hiph. vex with words; so Aramaic Aph. אוֹנִי, but also 𝔗 for Heb. הוֹנָה maltreat; Arabic وَنَى is laxus, debilis fuit, iv. debilitavit, defaligavit, but connex. dub.)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
יָנָה
- , v. יני
יני
- , Hif. הוֹנָה (b. h.; v. אָנָה) to oppress, treat overbearingly, vex, taunt. Gen. R. s. 88, beg. שלא יהו מוֹנִים את וכ׳ that they might not taunt Israel saying &c. Cant. R. to I, 6. Tanḥ. Vayera 14 כל מי שיוֹנֶה להבירו whoever aggrieves his neighbor. Ib. הוֹנֵת את עצמה humbled herself; a. fr.—V. הוֹנָאָה, אוֹנָאָה.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 16 distinct written forms H3238 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 16 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 19 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Exodus 22:21
- Leviticus 19:33
- Deuteronomy 23:16
- Psalms 74:8
- Isaiah 49:26
- Jeremiah 22:3
- Ezekiel 18:7
- Zephaniah 3:1
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
