laag · mock, deride

What it means

laag (לָעַג) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “mock, deride”.

To mock, to laugh at someone with contempt (2 Kings 19:21; Psalm 2:4; Proverbs 17:5). In one passage it is used of speaking a language that is not understood (Isaiah 33:19).

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. To laugh at someone with contempt, to make him look ridiculous.
2. To speak in a tongue so strange that no one understands it.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• mocks ×8
• mock ×6
• he mocked ×1
• mocking ×1
• stammering ×1
• they mocked ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×4
• Psalms×4
• Proverbs×3
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×1

• 2 Kings 19:21

  This is the word that YHWH has spoken against him: “She despises you, she mocks you, the virgin, daughter of Zion; behind you she shakes her head, the daughter of Jerusalem.

• 2 Chronicles 30:10

  So the runners were passing from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun; but they were laughing at them and mocking them.

• Nehemiah 2:19

  But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, and they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

• Nehemiah 4:1

  It happened that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he burned with anger and was greatly irritated, and he mocked the Jews.

• Job 9:23

  If a scourge kills suddenly, he mocks at the trial of the innocent.

• Job 11:3

  Shall your idle talk silence men? Shall you mock, and there be none to put you to shame?

• Job 21:3

  Bear with me, and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock.

• Job 22:19

  The righteous see it and rejoice, and the innocent mocks them:

• Psalms 2:4

  He who sits in the heavens laughs; Adonai mocks them.

• Psalms 22:7

  All who see me mock me; they part their lips, they shake their head:

• Psalms 59:8

  But you, YHWH, laugh at them; you mock all the nations.

• Psalms 80:6

  You make us a contention for our neighbors, and our enemies mock among themselves.

• Proverbs 1:26

  I too will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes,

• Proverbs 17:5

  Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; whoever rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

• Proverbs 30:17

  The eye that mocks a father and despises obedience to a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young of the eagle will eat it.

• Isaiah 33:19

  The insolent people you will not see, a people of speech too deep to understand, of a stammering tongue without understanding.

• Isaiah 37:22

  this is the word that YHWH has spoken against him: “She despises you, she mocks you, the virgin, daughter of Zion; behind you she shakes her head, the daughter of Jerusalem.

• Jeremiah 20:7

  You seduced me, YHWH, and I let myself be seduced; you were stronger than I and prevailed; I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.