Strength in various applications ( force , security , majesty , praise )
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עֹז is strength — but the Hebrew Bible is careful about where it locates that strength and who is its source. The word covers a range of related senses: raw physical power, military fortification, the security of a refuge, the majestic might of God, and even the praise rendered to the God who is strong.
Reader summary
Full entry for עֹז (H5797) · Open the biblical lexicon
עֹז is strength — but the Hebrew Bible is careful about where it locates that strength and who is its source. The word covers a range of related senses: raw physical power, military fortification, the security of a refuge, the majestic might of God, and even the praise rendered to the God who is strong.
The BSB source-word alignment has 92 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include strength (9), and strength (5), is my strength (4), with strength (3), and His strength (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 15:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (44), Proverbs (9), Ezekiel (8), Isaiah (6).
עֹז is strength — but the Hebrew Bible is careful about where it locates that strength and who is its source. The word covers a range of related senses: raw physical power, military fortification, the security of a refuge, the majestic might of God, and even the praise rendered to the God who is strong. This semantic spread is not accidental. In the Psalter especially, עֹז consistently relocates the source of human strength from human resources to divine character. 'Yahweh is my strength and my shield' (Ps 28:7) is not a poetic flourish — it is a theological declaration about where the covenant people actually find reliable power.
The contrast with human strength runs throughout the prophets. Uzziah's king-name means 'Yahweh is my strength,' but he dies a leper after trusting in his own accomplishment. Isaiah's Servant passages consistently contrast the failing strength of human beings (Isa 40:28-31 — even the young grow weary) with the inexhaustible strength of Yahweh that is given to those who wait on him. The word 'wait' matters here: עֹז received from God is not passive but it is not self-generated. It comes through the posture of dependence.
Proverbs 31:25 applies עֹז to the valiant woman: strength and dignity are her clothing. This is not the strength of physical dominance but the strength of character, wisdom, and covenant faithfulness — the kind of strength that enables her to 'laugh at the time to come.' The eschatological confidence embedded in this verse is remarkable: real strength does not just handle today, it enables a person to face the future without fear. This is the pastoral register of עֹז: a strength derived from trust in the God who holds the future.
עֹז appears in the local Hebrew index about 92 times in the Hebrew Bible, with notable concentration in the Psalms and wisdom literature. The Psalter uses it overwhelmingly in doxological contexts — praising God as the source of strength, taking refuge in him as the stronghold, and declaring his might over all the earth. The prophets use it to contrast divine strength with human futility.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.
The opening verse of Psalm 46 is the theological center of the עֹז tradition: God himself is the strength his people need. He is not merely strong in the abstract — he is present, near, and accessible at the point of need. Luther's 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God' is a meditation on this psalm. The strength spoken of here is not something the believer generates but something the believer finds by running to the One who possesses it.
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
Isaiah's thanksgiving song connects עֹז to trust and to salvation in a single breath: Yahweh is strength, song, and salvation together. Fear is displaced not by human courage but by the character of God. The phrase 'strength and song' echoes the Song of the Sea (Exod 15:2) — the deliverance from Egypt becomes the pattern for every subsequent experience of divine strength.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
The connection between עֹז and שִׂמְחָה is made explicit here: the experience of divine strength leads directly to rejoicing. Strength and joy are not separate gifts — when the believer finds the strength they needed in God, joy is the natural result. This is the personal appropriation of what Neh 8:10 declares structurally: joy and strength are theologically inseparable.
Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty fill His sanctuary.
עֹז is located specifically in the sanctuary — in the presence of God in worship. This is the cultic dimension of strength: encounter with the holy God, who is himself the source of all power, imparts something to those who come before him. Worship is not only praise rendered to God; it is the place where God's own strength is encountered and received.
O God, You are awesome in Your sanctuary; the God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to His people. Blessed be God!
Divine strength is given — not demonstrated from a distance but actually transferred to the people. 'Gives strength to his people' describes an active provision. The psalm closes with doxology: the appropriate response to received strength is praise. Strength received and praise returned is the covenant rhythm the Psalter assumes.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Strength that radiates outward—from physical force to the majesty and security it conveys to others
Strength that radiates outward—from physical force to the majesty and security it conveys to others
strength in various applications (force, security, majesty, praise) BDB: strength Usage: boldness, loud, might, power, strength, strong.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 92 lexical occurrence verses.
עֹז is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
עֹז addresses one of the deepest pastoral hungers in any congregation: the need for genuine, durable strength to face life. Not the strength that comes from having favorable circumstances or sufficient personal resources, but the strength that is available even when those are gone. The Psalms are honest about human weakness — they do not pretend that the believer is strong, capable, and above their circumstances. They declare that the God in whom the believer takes refuge is strong, and that he gives strength to his people.
The pastoral application of the strength-in-God theme is that it reverses the usual logic of courage. The world tells people to dig deep and find the strength within. The Psalter tells people to look up and find the strength above. This is not passivity — Psalm 46 still calls the people to 'be still and know' that God is God, while the battle rages. But the source of the stillness is not suppressed anxiety or manufactured calm; it is the genuine conviction that Yahweh is the strength his people need and has proven himself to be.
The connection between עֹז and worship (Ps 96:6, 68:35) is pastorally rich. The sanctuary is the place where strength is given. This is part of why corporate worship is not optional or merely culturally conditioned — it is the context in which God's people encounter the God who gives strength. Congregations that abandon gathered worship consistently report spiritual depletion; those who gather genuinely before God discover that strength is one of the gifts that comes with his presence.
Ps.46.1
עֹז comes from the verbal root H5810 עָזַז (to be strong, to prevail). The noun covers a remarkable range: the raw force of a physical object, the security of a fortified city (עֹז can be used of a stronghold), the majestic might of God, and even praise — because praise renders to God the acknowledgment of his strength. This last use (עֹז as praise) appears in Ps 8:2 where the strength/praise of children silences the enemy.
The breadth of the word reflects the Hebrew conviction that all genuine strength ultimately traces back to the God who is strength itself.
The OT עֹז tradition consistently locates human strength in divine character and covenant faithfulness. The NT receives this tradition and concentrates it christologically. Paul's theology of weakness is the deepest expression: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness' (2 Cor 12:9) — the divine strength (dynamis, Greek equivalent of עֹז) is actually most operative when human strength is absent.
The cross is the supreme illustration: what looked like the defeat of strength was the event in which divine strength overcame sin, death, and the powers. The resurrection declares that the strength of God is not subject to the strongest opposition human history could produce.
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