דַּיָּג (day.yag)
day.yag
fisher
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The noun dayyag simply means a fisherman or one who catches fish. It appears only twice in the Hebrew Bible, both times in prophetic books. In Ezekiel 47:10, it describes the workers along the Dead Sea whose nets will be filled with many kinds of fish.
Its second occurrence is in Isaiah 19:8, where it refers to those who cast hooks into the Nile. These brief references highlight the word’s concrete nature. It does not carry metaphorical weight for spiritual fishing or evangelism in these contexts. Instead, it grounds the prophecy in the daily labor of ancient Egypt and its surrounding waters.
Translators consistently render dayyag as "fisherman" or "fisher." The term remains straightforward, pointing to a specific occupation rather than a symbolic role. Its scarcity in Scripture underscores that the prophets used familiar trades to illustrate divine judgment and restoration without expanding their meaning beyond the original historical setting.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word dayyag is a simple noun meaning fisherman. It appears only twice in the Hebrew Bible, grounding its meaning in the daily labor of ancient workers rather than abstract spiritual concepts. In Isaiah 19:8, it describes those casting hooks into the Nile, while Jeremiah 16:16 uses the image to illustrate God’s sovereign action.
These references remind us that Scripture often uses familiar trades to speak about divine purposes. The prophets did not invent new symbols but drew from the real lives of people who worked along the water. This concreteness helps us see how God interacts with history through ordinary human activity, whether in judgment or restoration.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- the/ fishermen1×
- for/ fishermen1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- לְ/דַיָּגִ֥ים1×
- הַ/דַּיָּגִ֔ים1×
Key Verses
-
Isaiah 19:8
The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish.
This verse uses the term to describe the mournful reaction of Nile workers when their livelihood is affected by divine intervention.
-
Jeremiah 16:16
“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
Here God promises to send fishermen who will gather people, using the occupation as a metaphor for His active role in history.