What does יָנַק mean in the Bible?
This verb concerns nursing or receiving milk, with the sentence identifying the feeder and the one being nourished. Sarah speaks with wonder of nursing the son born in Abraham's old age.
Hebrew · H3243
יָנַק
This verb concerns nursing or receiving milk, with the sentence identifying the feeder and the one being nourished. Sarah speaks with wonder of nursing the son born in Abraham's old age.
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יָנַקH3243
What does יָנַק mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for יָנַק (H3243) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3243?
The BSB source-word alignment has 32 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to nurse (3), and infants (2), infants (2), the infant (2), [She put] him and his nurse (1).
Where does יָנַק appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 21:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (6), Genesis (4), 1 Samuel (3), Deuteronomy (3).
What This Word Actually Means
This verb concerns nursing or receiving milk, with the sentence identifying the feeder and the one being nourished. Sarah speaks with wonder of nursing the son born in Abraham's old age. In Exodus, the rescued infant Moses is placed with a Hebrew woman to nurse him, and the story identifies that woman as his mother. Isaiah uses nursing imagery to picture Jerusalem's comforting abundance.
The verb therefore appears in both embodied infant care and expressly figurative consolation. The image attends to dependence and nourishment, but it does not prescribe every detail of modern feeding or judge a caregiver's faith. Keep literal family events distinct from prophetic pictures, and let the actual passage explain the relationship it describes.
How the Bible Uses It
Sarah's nursing, Moses's preserved care, and Isaiah's picture of comforting Jerusalem show literal nourishment and prophetic consolation without making them interchangeable kinds of speech.
- Gen.21.7
She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Sarah's nursing statement expresses wonder at Isaac's birth in Abraham's old age, before the narrative records his growth and weaning.
- Exod.2.7
Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister offers to find a Hebrew nurse, and the following action brings his mother into the rescued infant's continuing care.
- Isa.66.11
So that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you may drink deeply and delight yourselves in her glorious abundance.
Nursing at Jerusalem's comforting breasts is the prophet's figurative invitation to rejoice in her consolation and promised abundance.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itto nurse3×Exodus 2:7, 1 Kings 3:21, Lamentations 4:3
and infants2×Psalms 8:2, Lamentations 2:11
infants2×1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 22:19
the infant2×Deuteronomy 32:25, Isaiah 11:8
[She put] him and his nurse1×2 Kings 11:2
along with her nurse1×Genesis 24:59
an infant1×Numbers 11:12
and his nurse1×2 Chronicles 22:11
and infant1×Jeremiah 44:7
and nurse1×Isaiah 60:16
and nurse him1×Exodus 2:9
and nursed1×1 Samuel 1:23
even those nursing1×Joel 2:16
He nourished him1×Deuteronomy 32:13
He will suck1×Job 20:16
I should be nursed1×Job 3:12
milk1×Genesis 32:15
nurse1×Genesis 35:8
The nursing infant’s1×Lamentations 4:4
they will feast on1×Deuteronomy 33:19
who nursed1×Song Of Solomon 8:1
would nurse1×Genesis 21:7
you may nurse1×Isaiah 66:11
You will drink1×Isaiah 60:16
you will nurse1×Isaiah 66:12
your nursing mothers1×Isaiah 49:23
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 21:7הֵינִ֥יקָהtowould nurseVerb - Hifil - Perfect - third person feminine singularGenesis 24:59מֵנִקְתָּ֑הּtoalong with her nurseVerb - Hifil - Participle - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singularGenesis 32:15מֵינִיק֛וֹתtomilkVerb - Hifil - Participle - feminine pluralGenesis 35:8מֵינֶ֣קֶתtonurseVerb - Hifil - Participle - feminine singular constructExodus 2:7מֵינֶ֔קֶתtoVerb - Hifil - Participle - feminine singularExodus 2:7וְתֵינִ֥קtoto nurseConjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive imperfect - third person feminine singularExodus 2:9וְהֵינִקִ֣הוּtoand nurse himConjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular | third person masculine singularNumbers 11:12הַיֹּנֵ֔קtoan infantArticle | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singularDeuteronomy 32:13וַיֵּנִקֵ֤הֽוּtoHe nourished himConjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singularDeuteronomy 32:25יוֹנֵ֖קtothe infantVerb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 21:7
Aligned rows32
Books represented15
Genesis4Exodus3Numbers1Deuteronomy31 Samuel31 Kings12 Kings12 Chronicles1Job2Psalms1Song Of Solomon1Isaiah6Jeremiah1Lamentations3Joel1
Source forms
יוֹנֵ֖ק3xyō·w·nêqDeuteronomy 32:25, Song Of Solomon 8:1, Isaiah 11:8
אִינָֽק׃1x’î·nāqJob 3:12
הֵינִ֥יקָה1xhê·nî·qāhGenesis 21:7
הֵינִ֖יקוּ1xhê·nî·qūLamentations 4:3
הַיֹּנֵ֔ק1xhay·yō·nêqNumbers 11:12
וְהֵינִקִ֣הוּ1xwə·hê·ni·qi·hūExodus 2:9
וְיוֹנֵ֖ק1xwə·yō·w·nêqJeremiah 44:7
וְיוֹנֵ֔ק1xwə·yō·w·nêqLamentations 2:11
Parsing patterns
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular6xDeuteronomy 32:25, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 22:19, Song Of Solomon 8:1
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular2xJeremiah 44:7, Lamentations 2:11
Verb - Hifil - Participle - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular2x2 Kings 11:2, 2 Chronicles 22:11
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular1xNumbers 11:12
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive imperfect - third person feminine singular1xExodus 2:7
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular1x1 Samuel 1:23
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular1xDeuteronomy 32:13
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Imperative - feminine singular | third person masculine singular1xExodus 2:9
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not shame caregivers through comparisons with Sarah's particular nursing story.
- Avoid giving medical feeding advice on the basis of a Hebrew word study.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim nursing metaphors assign bodily anatomy to God; the prophetic context uses a comfort comparison.
- Do not claim one feeding method proves faithfulness; the selected narratives supply no universal clinical rule.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. to suck ; causatively, to give milk
Source Gloss
to suck ; causatively, to give milk
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
to suck; causatively, to give milk BDB: suck Usage: milch, nurse(-ing mother), (give, make to) suck(-ing child, -ling).
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups2Aligned forms16
Qalbasic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense11×
Participle active1Sam 15:3 · 1Sam 22:19 · Deut 32:25 · Isa 11:8 · Lam 4:4 · Song 8:16×
ImperfectDeut 33:19 · Isa 60:16 · Isa 66:11 · Job 3:12 · Job 20:165×
Hiphilcausative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action3×
PerfectGen 21:7 · Lam 4:32×
Participle activeGen 32:161×
Word Origins
יָנַק is a primitive root - no further derivation.
For the Preacher and Teacher
The story of Moses includes more than his escape from immediate danger. His sister's question leads to a practical arrangement for ongoing nourishment, and Pharaoh's daughter agrees to wages for the woman who nurses him. The narrative quietly joins compassion, preservation, and ordinary care without reducing the infant to a symbol. Sarah's wonder belongs to a different household and a particular promised birth.
Isaiah's nursing language is different again: Jerusalem becomes the setting of abundant consolation, and God compares His comfort to a mother's care. These distinctions allow the study to honor dependent life while refusing to prescribe a single modern feeding practice. The teaching emphasis is attentive provision and truthful comfort, neither sentimental denial of vulnerability nor judgment upon another family's situation.
Anchor passage
Exod.2.7
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 2:6-9 joins compassion for the rescued infant with practical nursing arrangements and promised wages.
- Genesis 21:6-8 places Sarah's nursing within her joyful response and Isaac's continuing growth.
- Isaiah 66:10-13 uses maternal nourishment and comfort to express consolation over Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 49:22-23 pictures nations' rulers as caregivers within the Lord's restoration promise.
- Numbers 11:12-14 uses infant-care imagery in Moses's complaint about a burden he cannot carry alone.
- Lamentations 4:3-4 names deprived nursing infants within the city's devastating suffering and lament.
The supplied Hebrew range includes receiving milk and, in relevant forms, nursing another. Literal subjects and prophetic personification must be identified from each clause rather than treating the verb as a fixed metaphor for spiritual maturity.
From Old to New Testament
Scripture's later milk imagery may be compared as a theme of nourishment, but Isaiah's comfort picture and Moses's nursing arrangement are not direct statements about church maturity. This study gives no clinical instruction and does not replace responsible human care.