Hebrew Word Study – Refresh – Ravah   רָוָה Resh Vav Hei 

Jeremiah 31:25:  “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

Jeremiah is speaking of the future restoration of Judah after going through captivity.   The word refresh in the Hebrew is ravah which is very hard to define.  You really need to experience ravah to understand the word.   The English word refresh is probably the best we can do but ravah means much more than that.  The word weary is aphah which could mean weary or could mean thirsty.  But come on, God will refresh the weary?  Big deal. I get home from work I am weary.  I love that feeling of weariness after a hard day of work and I love those little rituals, having dinner, taking a shower and spending a few hours of study  which refreshes me.  Quite frankly I don’t mind being weary because it is so easy to refresh myself. Yet, every translation I read uses the word weary.  Ok, I know there are degrees of weariness.  There is weariness to the point of exhaustion. But if that is the case, why not translate it as exhaustion.  There is a weariness of just wanting to give  up.  Then why not translate it that God will refresh those who are ready to give up?  No, we just stay with the weariness because we want to be technically correct but in the attempt at being technically correct we sacrifice an emotional context.   The context clearly shows this is just not you normal every day weariness but a special weariness that makes the refreshing even more special. This word used  here is ‘aphah which means more than just being weary.  

The word ‘aphah comes from the root word ‘ayeph.  This could also mean thirsty.  It is a word used by desert dwellers.  Those living in the desert are always thirsty.  Unlike us, they are used to it, it is just a matter of life living in the desert and drinking only enough water to survive and rationing what little water  you find.  However, there are some occasions when they come to an oasis and find a stream of water where they drink their fill and are satisfied.  That is rare. Most of the time they are thirsty and always ration their water.  If they run out of water and grow thirsty where it becomes life threatening, then they are really thirsty.  That is why Hebrew had two words for thirsty.  As we rarely experience a life threatening thirst we just have one word for thirsty.   The normal every day thirst in Hebrew is tsama’ but when you are really thirsty then that is ‘aphah.   I only recall one time in my life I was ‘aphah.  I was a camp director for Youth Guidance and we were taking a group of inner city teenagers on a 24 hour hike with only the water that we could carry.  There were no sources of water on our hiking trail.  The water was carefully rationed and only at certain times were we allowed some water and only a certain amount. We had two of the toughest street gang members guard the water and ration it, so no one attempted to steal a sip.  After few hours my mouth was so dry, I craved a drop of water so much I would have given my entire salary for just a sip of water.  I could not think of anything else but just a sip of water.   In fact I heard one counselor cry out: “Lord, send Lazarus down that he may dip his finger is some water and place it on my tongue.”   Never in my life had I known thirst like that.  That was “aphah.  When I did get my ration of water it was warm and tepid, but to this day I still think how refreshing that water was.   When you think of ‘aphah as weariness, it is a weariness that leaves you to the point of fainting, in fact one use of the word ‘aphah is faint.  But that is not the common Hebrew word for faint, that word is used at the end of this verse. This word ‘aphah is a sort of play on the last word da’avah meaning to faint.

This little play on words is why we have the curious words:  “He will satisfy the faint.”  What satisfaction does a fainting person need? Unless that person is fainting from thirst and needs water to be revived.  The word satisfy in the Hebrew if mala’ which is commonly used to express the idea of a filling.   The word faint is da’avah which means to flow away.  It is also used to express anxiety or distress.  Going back to our  picture of wandering in a desert, we could best render this as faint.   The picture is one who has wandered in the desert until he has reached the point of complete collapse.  He has fallen to the ground overcome with thirst and weariness to the point of fainting.  God then rides up on His camel loaded with bags of water where the weary travel can drink his fill and God puts him on the camel to carry him to his journey’s end. 

What I find a little curious is the use of the word “da’avah” as the direct object of “mala.”  How do you fill someone that is faint?  A person becomes faint because they lack something, either water or air.  Hence, God is not just reviving someone who is faint, He is filling them with whatever is lacking that is causing them to faint or be weary. 

You see when you reach the point of total collapse from anxiety or distress, God will fill you with whatever is lacking causing your distress.

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