זָקֵן
za.qen (H2204)
be old
AI Word Study
# זָקֵן (Zaqen): Understanding "Be Old" in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew verb זָקֵן (zaqen) carries the straightforward meaning "to be old" and appears 27 times throughout the biblical text. As a verb rather than merely an adjective, it describes an active state or condition of aging—the process or condition of becoming and being old. This verb form allows biblical writers to express aging not as a static quality but as an ongoing reality in human life. The frequency of this word's appearance (27 occurrences) across biblical narrative suggests that the concept of aging held consistent significance for Hebrew speakers and their audiences. The verb could be used to describe individuals at various life stages, from descriptions of aging patriarchs to discussions of elderly persons in community contexts. By using a verb form rather than a simple adjective, the text emphasizes aging as a lived experience rather than a mere descriptive label. Without access to specific contextual examples in this dataset, the word's basic function is clear: זָקֵן provides biblical authors with a precise term for expressing the human experience of growing old. Its consistent presence across 27 biblical passages indicates this was a concept important enough to warrant repeated verbal expression, suggesting aging was a meaningful theme in ancient Israelite understanding of human life and experience.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’
The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.
Abraham was old, and well advanced in age. Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things.
When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death.
Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. Yahweh said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.
After many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years.
Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons,
Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
Now, behold, the king walks before you. I am old and gray-headed. Behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth to this day.
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul.
Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.
Now king David was old and advanced in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he couldn’t keep warm.
Bathsheba went in to the king in his room. The king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.
He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”
Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was one hundred thirty years old when he died.
Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stock dies in the ground,
I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.