Depressed (figuratively), in mind ( gentle ) or circumstances ( needy , especially saintly )
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The Hebrew adjective ʿānāw describes a posture before God and among people that the Bible calls consistently blessed, but that the world consistently despises. Usually translated 'humble,' 'meek,' or 'lowly,' it carries dimensions of both social lowliness (the person without resources or status who cannot defend themselves) and spiritual disposition (the person who has learned not to insist on their own prerogatives.
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Full entry for עָנָו (H6035) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew adjective ʿānāw describes a posture before God and among people that the Bible calls consistently blessed, but that the world consistently despises. Usually translated 'humble,' 'meek,' or 'lowly,' it carries dimensions of both social lowliness (the person without resources or status who cannot defend themselves) and spiritual disposition (the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 20 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the humble (4), the poor (4), But the meek (1), for the lowly (1), humble (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 12:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (11), Isaiah (4), Amos (2), Job (1).
The Hebrew adjective ʿānāw describes a posture before God and among people that the Bible calls consistently blessed, but that the world consistently despises. Usually translated 'humble,' 'meek,' or 'lowly,' it carries dimensions of both social lowliness (the person without resources or status who cannot defend themselves) and spiritual disposition (the person who has learned not to insist on their own prerogatives before God or others).
The two dimensions are not always separable in the Psalms, where the ʿĕnāwîm (plural — the humble/meek/poor) are a recognizable group whose defining characteristic is that they have no human advocate and therefore depend entirely on Yahweh. Moses is the paradigm case: 'Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men on the face of the earth' (Num. 12:3).
His humility is not weakness but the specific orientation of a man who knows he acts only under divine authority and by divine grace. The Psalms promise that Yahweh guides the humble (Ps. 25:9), upholds them (Ps. 147:6), crowns them with salvation (Ps. 149:4), and will give them the land (Ps. 37:11). Isaiah 61:1 makes the ʿĕnāwîm the primary audience of messianic proclamation — and Jesus quotes this text at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18).
The beatitude 'blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt. 5:5) is Psalm 37:11 in the mouth of the one who himself embodies ʿānāw: 'I am gentle and humble in heart' (Matt. 11:29).
ʿānāw is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 26 occurrences, concentrated in the Psalms, wisdom literature, and the prophets. Its close cognate ʿānî (poor/afflicted/humble) appears far more often and overlaps significantly in meaning. Together they describe a posture of dependence and non-self-assertion that the covenant community is called to embody — and that Yahweh particularly favors.
Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.
The canonical definition-by-example. Moses, who speaks face to face with God and mediates the covenant, is the most humble of all humans — not in spite of his authority but in correspondence with it. Biblical humility is not the absence of dignity but the right ordering of one's dignity before the God who gives it. The verse comes in a context where Miriam and Aaron have challenged Moses' authority, and God vindicates him — suggesting that the humble are not defenseless but are defended by God.
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.
The guidance promised here — in justice and in God's way — is specifically directed to the ʿĕnāwîm. Those who are not ʿĕnāwîm are, by implication, unguidable in this specific sense: their own self-assertion closes the channel through which divine direction flows. Humility is not merely a virtue but a posture of receptivity that makes the teaching relationship with God possible.
But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant prosperity.
This is the verse that Jesus quotes in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:5), bringing ʿānāw into the NT by direct citation and Christological interpretation. The 'land' of Psalm 37 is the covenant inheritance promised to Israel; in Jesus' use it expands into the inheritance of the new creation. The humble are not the marginalized who finally get what they deserve — they are those who have discovered that Yahweh's favor is the land worth inheriting.
The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
The Servant's mission in Isaiah 61 names the ʿĕnāwîm as his primary audience. When Jesus opens his public ministry in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:18), he reads this passage and says 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' The humble are not an afterthought in the messianic agenda — they are its first concern. This is the OT text that most directly connects ʿānāw to Christology.
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The messianic king is specifically described as ʿānāw — lowly, humble — riding not on a war-horse but on a donkey. The word appears in a military context where humility is the paradoxical mark of the victorious king. The NT sees this fulfilled in the Palm Sunday entry (Matt. 21:5), where Jesus' lowliness is precisely the mode of his royalty. ʿānāw thus becomes a royal virtue, not merely a peasant's condition.
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Hebrew word. Spiritual posture of voluntary humility or forced poverty that marks the pious before God
Spiritual posture of voluntary humility or forced poverty that marks the pious before God
depressed (figuratively), in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, especially saintly) BDB: poor Usage: humble, lowly, meek, poor. Compare 6041.
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 5 selected witnesses from 26 lexical occurrence verses.
God’s grace rests upon those who approach Him with humility rather than pride. Isaiah 29:17-24
The lowly become recipients of renewed joy. Proverbs 3:21-35
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The pastoral stakes of ʿānāw are high: the word describes the disposition that makes a person teachable by God, receivable of his favor, and fit for his inheritance. The Psalms consistently promise that God guides, upholds, crowns, and provides for the ʿĕnāwîm — not as a consolation prize for the unsuccessful but as the specific channel through which divine favor flows to people who are not relying on their own sufficiency.
What makes humility so difficult to preach is that it is endlessly imitated by its cheap substitutes: false modesty (which is actually a form of vanity), self-deprecation as a social strategy, and what might be called performative lowliness that is more concerned with appearing humble than with being receptive to God. The preacher who knows ʿānāw will press for the real thing: the posture that honestly evaluates the self in the light of God's majesty (which is not self-contempt but accurate perception), that releases the need to vindicate oneself (because God vindicates the humble), and that remains genuinely teachable.
The Christological use of the word is its hermeneutical key: Jesus calls himself gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11:29) and rides into Jerusalem as the lowly king (Zech. 9:9). Humility is not a virtue he endorses at a distance but one he embodies as the fullest expression of what it means to live before God.
Isa.61.1
ʿānāw and its cognate ʿānî share a root (ʿ-n-h) that encompasses meanings of being oppressed, humbled, lowly, and afflicted. The distinction between them is subtle and contested: some scholars see ʿānāw as more consistently voluntarily humble (a spiritual disposition) and ʿānî as more often involuntarily lowly (social circumstances), but in the Psalms they can be nearly interchangeable.
The plural ʿĕnāwîm appears in the Psalms as a recognized group who are collectively the object of Yahweh's special care — sometimes translated 'the poor,' 'the meek,' 'the humble,' or 'the afflicted' depending on context.
Isaiah 61:1's designation of the ʿĕnāwîm as the primary audience of the Servant's mission is the hinge between the OT and NT use of the concept. Jesus' Nazareth sermon (Luke 4:18) announces that Isaiah 61 is fulfilled in him, and the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-5) expand the promise of Psalm 37:11 into the kingdom horizon. Jesus' own self-description — 'I am gentle and humble in heart' (Matt.
11:29) — Is the NT's most direct Christological application of ʿānāw: the Son of God is the paradigm of the posture the word describes. Paul's exhortations to humility (Phil. 2:3-4) are grounded in the Christ who 'emptied himself, taking the form of a servant' (Phil. 2:7) — the incarnation is the supreme act of ʿānāw, and discipleship is participation in that posture.
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