evyon · needy

What it means

evyon (אֶבְיוֹן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “needy”.

One who depends on the help of others.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Someone lacking what they need to live; YHWH defends him.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Needy: one who depends on others to live and has no defense before the powerful. It often goes together with עָנִי (‘afflicted’, H6041) and דַּל (‘poor’).

• Opening the hand to the needy Deuteronomy 15:11Deuteronomy 15:4
• Not perverting his justice Exodus 23:6Amos 2:6
• YHWH lifts up the needy 1 Samuel 2:8Psalms 113:7Psalms 107:41
• “I {am} afflicted and needy” Psalms 86:1Psalms 40:17
• The righteous king saves the needy Psalms 72:13Psalms 72:4

Historical and cultural background

Amos accuses Israel of selling “the needy for a pair of sandals” (Amos 2:6). The law commanded lending to the needy and opening the hand to him, because “the needy one will never cease from the midst of the land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).

How we translate it

“Needy” 59 times and “poor” 2. This edition keeps “needy” for אֶבְיוֹן and distinguishes it from עָנִי (‘afflicted’) and דַּל (‘poor’), so that the reader can see which of the words the Hebrew uses when they go together (“the afflicted and the needy”, Psalm 35:10). In Exodus 23:6 it is rendered “your poor”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• needy ×59
• poor ×2

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×2
• Deuteronomy×7
• 1 Samuel×1
• Esther×1
• Job×6
• Psalms×23
• Proverbs×4
• Isaiah×5
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×3
• Amos×5

• Exodus 23:6

  You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his dispute.

• Exodus 23:11

  but the seventh year you shall let it rest and leave it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the animals of the field may eat. So you shall do with your vineyard and with your olive grove.

• Deuteronomy 15:4

  However, there shall be no needy one among you, for YHWH will surely bless you in the land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance to possess it,

• Deuteronomy 15:7

  If there is among you a needy one, one of your brothers, in one of your gates in your land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your brother, the needy one.

• Deuteronomy 15:9

  Guard yourself so that there is not a wicked word in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” and your eye is evil toward your brother, the needy one, and you do not give him anything, and he cries out against you to YHWH, and it becomes sin in you.

• Deuteronomy 15:11

  For the needy one will never cease from the midst of the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, “You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your poor, and to your needy in your land.”

• Deuteronomy 24:14

  You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether of your brothers or of your resident aliens who are in your land, within your gates.

• 1 Samuel 2:8

  He raises the poor from the dust; from the ash heap he lifts the needy, to make them sit with nobles, and he makes them inherit a throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s, and on them he has set the world.

• Esther 9:22

  as the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of banqueting and gladness, and of sending portions each to his companion, and gifts to the needy.

• Job 5:15

  But he saves from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the strong the needy.

• Job 24:4

  They push the needy off the road; together the humble of the land hide themselves.

• Job 24:14

  With the light the murderer rises; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he is like the thief.

• Job 29:16

  A father I was to the needy, and the case I did not know, I searched it out.

• Job 30:25

  Did not I weep for the one whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

• Job 31:19

  if I saw anyone perishing for lack of clothing, and no covering for the needy,

• Psalms 9:18

  For not forever will the needy be forgotten; the hope of the afflicted will not perish forever.

• Psalms 12:5

  “Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise,” says YHWH; “I will set in safety the one they snort at.”

• Psalms 35:10

  All my bones will say, “YHWH, who is like you, who delivers the afflicted from one stronger than he, and the afflicted and the needy from the one who robs him?”

• Psalms 37:14

  The sword the wicked have drawn, and they have bent their bow to bring down the afflicted and the needy, to butcher the upright in their way.

• Psalms 40:17

  And I am afflicted and needy; Adonai will think of me; my help and the one who brings me to safety are you; my Elohim, do not delay.

• Psalms 49:2

  both human beings and sons of man, together rich and needy.

• Psalms 69:33

  For YHWH hears the needy, and his prisoners he does not despise.

• Psalms 70:5

  And I am afflicted and needy; Elohim, hurry to me; my help and the one who brings me to safety are you; YHWH, do not delay.

• Psalms 72:4

  May he judge the afflicted of the people, save the sons of the needy, and crush the oppressor.

• Psalms 72:12

  For he will deliver the needy who cries out, and the afflicted and him who has no helper.

• Psalms 72:13

  He will have pity on the poor and the needy, and the souls of the needy he will save.

• Psalms 74:21

  Let not the oppressed turn back humiliated; let the afflicted and the needy praise your name.

• Psalms 82:4

  Bring to safety the poor and the needy; from the hand of the wicked deliver them.

• Psalms 86:1

  A prayer of David. Incline your ear, YHWH; answer me, for I am afflicted and needy.

• Psalms 107:41

  But he sets on high the needy out of affliction, and makes their families like a flock.

• Psalms 109:16

  because he did not remember to show loyal love, but pursued the afflicted and needy man, and the brokenhearted to put him to death.

• Psalms 109:22

  For afflicted and needy am I, and my heart is pierced within me.

• Psalms 109:31

  For he stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who judge his soul.

• Psalms 112:9

  He has scattered, he has given to the needy; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be exalted in glory.

• Psalms 113:7

  He raises the poor from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the needy,

• Psalms 132:15

  Its provision I will abundantly bless; its needy I will satisfy with bread.

• Psalms 140:12

  I know that YHWH will execute the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the needy.

• Proverbs 14:31

  Whoever oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but whoever shows favor to the needy honors him.

• Proverbs 30:14

  A generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaw teeth are knives, to devour the afflicted from the earth, and the needy from among mankind.

• Proverbs 31:9

  Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the afflicted and the needy.

And 21 more times.