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Hebrew verb · H3238

יָנָה

yanahyaw-naw'

to oppress

20 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: yânâh

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H3238is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 8 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 17
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H3238

to rage or be violent; by implication, to suppress, to maltreat

The King James renders it: destroy, (thrust out by) oppress(-ing, -ion, -or), proud, vex, do violence.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

yanah is rendered "to oppress". It stands 20 times in the Hebrew text, across eight books.

  • Seven of the uses stand in Ezekiel, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Exodus 22:21You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
  • The Greek text spells it seventeen different ways.

The first use

You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 22:21תוֹנֶ֖ה

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Seven of the word's twenty uses are in Ezekiel.

The other 31 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • the oppressor3
  • he has oppressed2
  • they have maltreated2
  • you maltreat2
  • you will maltreat2
  • he oppressed1
  • let us oppress them1
  • maltreat you1
  • of arrogant opressors1
  • they will oppress1
  • to oppress them1
  • which oppresses1

and 2 more, 20 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

The words it stands beside

All 20, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

17 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • הוֹנָ֔ה2
  • הַיּוֹנָ֔ה2
  • הַיּוֹנָֽה׃2
  • ה֥וֹנוּ1
  • הוֹנ֔וּ1
  • יוֹנֶ֔ה1
  • יוֹנ֨וּ1
  • לִגְאֵי יוֹנִים׃1
  • לְהֽוֹנֹתָם֙1
  • מוֹנַ֙יִךְ֙1
  • נִינָ֣ם1
  • תוֹנֶ֖ה1

and 5 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • the definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singular4HTd/Vqrfsa
  • verb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine plural4HVhi2mp
  • verb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural2HVhp3cp
  • verb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular2HVhp3ms
  • HR/Aampc//Vqrmpa1HR/Aampc//Vqrmpa
  • preposition + verb · causative (hiphil), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine plural1HR/Vhcc/Sp3mp
  • verb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVhi2ms
  • verb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular1HVhi2ms/Sp3ms
  • verb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural1HVhi3mp
  • verb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVhi3ms
  • verb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person feminine singular1HVhrmpc/Sp2fs
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common plural + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine plural1HVqi1cp/Sp3mp

Exodus

one use
  • You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

    Exodus 22:21

    • תוֹנֶ֖הtonehverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you must maltreat

Leviticus

three uses
  • When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.

    Leviticus 19:33

    • תוֹנ֖וּtonuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you will maltreat
  • If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

    Leviticus 25:14

    • תּוֹנ֖וּtonuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you maltreat
  • Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

    Leviticus 25:17

    • תוֹנוּ֙tonuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you will maltreat

Deuteronomy

one use
  • Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him.

    Deuteronomy 23:16

    • תּוֹנֶֽנּוּ׃ סtonenuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: you will maltreat him

Psalms

two uses
  • They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.

    Psalms 74:8

    • נִינָ֣םninamverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common plural + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: let us oppress them
  • We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

    Psalms 123:4

    • לִגְאֵי יוֹנִים׃lige yonimHR/Aampc//Vqrmpatagged: of arrogant opressors

Isaiah

one use
  • I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

    Isaiah 49:26

    • מוֹנַ֙יִךְ֙monayikhverb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person feminine singulartagged: maltreat you

Jeremiah

four uses
  • This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

    Jeremiah 22:3

    • תֹּנוּ֙tonuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you maltreat
  • He has left His den like a lion, for their land has been made a desolation by the sword of the oppressor, and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

    Jeremiah 25:38

    • הַיּוֹנָ֔הhaiyonahthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singulartagged: the oppressor
  • They continue to stumble; indeed, they have fallen over one another. They say, ‘Get up! Let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor.’

    Jeremiah 46:16

    • הַיּוֹנָֽה׃haiyonahthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singulartagged: the oppressor
  • Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time. In the face of the oppressor’s sword, each will turn to his own people, each will flee to his own land.

    Jeremiah 50:16

    • הַיּוֹנָ֔הhaiyonahthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singulartagged: the oppressor

Ezekiel

seven uses
  • He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

    Ezekiel 18:7

    • יוֹנֶ֔הyonehverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he oppressed
  • He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.

    Ezekiel 18:12

    • הוֹנָ֔הhonahverb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he has oppressed
  • He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

    Ezekiel 18:16

    • הוֹנָ֔הhonahverb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he has oppressed
  • Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

    Ezekiel 22:7

    • ה֥וֹנוּhonuverb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have maltreated
  • The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.

    Ezekiel 22:29

    • הוֹנ֔וּhonuverb · causative (hiphil), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have maltreated
  • This land will be his possession in Israel. And My princes will no longer oppress My people, but will give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

    Ezekiel 45:8

    • יוֹנ֨וּyonuverb · causative (hiphil), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they will oppress
  • The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his property.’”

    Ezekiel 46:18

    • לְהֽוֹנֹתָם֙lehonotampreposition + verb · causative (hiphil), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: to oppress them

Zephaniah

one use
  • Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!

    Zephaniah 3:1

    • הַיּוֹנָֽה׃haiyonahthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singulartagged: which oppresses

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →