Lexical Summary zaak: To cry out, to call for help, to summon Original Word: זָעַךְ Strong's Exhaustive Concordance be extinct A primitive root; to extinguish -- be extinct. NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Origina prim. root Definition to extinguish NASB Translation extinguished (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs [זָעַךְ] verb extinguish, only Niph`al be extinguished יָמַי נִזְעָ֑כוּ Job 17:1 ("" רוּחִי חֻבָּ֑לָה). Elsewhere always דעך (q. v.), and so in cognate languages. Probably error for נדעכו. Topical Lexicon Canonical Occurrence The verb appears once, in Job 17:1. “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.” Literary Setting Job’s lament comes in the middle of the third cycle of speeches. His friends have offered increasingly harsh diagnoses of his suffering, and Job, feeling abandoned, articulates total exhaustion. The verb poignantly captures that moment when inward vitality collapses and nothing seems left but the pull of the grave. Imagery and Sense The word evokes internal disintegration—breath, spirit, or life-force given over to decay. In ancient Near-Eastern thought, breath was the distinguishing mark of life (Genesis 2:7). When Job says it is “broken,” he is not merely short of breath; he is acknowledging that the animating gift of God now feels spoiled, spent, and beyond repair. Theology of Human Frailty 1. Mortality laid bare. Job’s experience confirms Psalm 39:5, “Every man is but a vapor.” Intertextual Connections • Psalm 22:14 describes a similar dissolution: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed.” Ministry and Pastoral Application • Validates lament. Scripture gives vocabulary for believers who feel their strength has rotted away. Lament becomes an act of faith, not rebellion. Preaching Pathways 1. From broken spirit to living hope—trace Job 17:1 to 1 Peter 1:3. Devotional Reflection When personal strength fails, believers are invited to confess their emptiness and wait on the God who “gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it” (Isaiah 42:5). The lone appearance of this verb serves as a reminder that one honest sentence of Scripture can carry a lifetime of comfort. Forms and Transliterations נִזְעָ֗כוּ נזעכו niz‘āḵū niz·‘ā·ḵū nizAchuLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Job 17:1 HEB: חֻ֭בָּלָה יָמַ֥י נִזְעָ֗כוּ קְבָרִ֥ים לִֽי׃ NAS: my days are extinguished, The grave KJV: my days are extinct, the graves INT: is broken my days are extinguished the grave 1 Occurrence |