נְהִי (ne.hi)
ne.hi
wailing
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 3 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The noun nehi describes the sharp, piercing sound of wailing or lamentation. It refers specifically to the audible expression of deep grief, often characterized by loud cries or moans rather than silent tears. In the Hebrew Bible, this word captures the raw, vocal outpouring of sorrow that accompanies disaster or loss.
This term appears in only three verses, all within prophetic literature: Micah 1:8, Jeremiah 47:5, and Amos 5:16. In each instance, it depicts a scene of national tragedy where the sound of mourning fills the streets. For example, Micah uses it to describe his own reaction to the destruction of Zion, while Amos predicts that wailing will erupt in every wide square and courtyard.
The word emphasizes the public and acoustic nature of grief. It is not merely an internal feeling but a sound that spreads through the community, signaling collective mourning. Translators typically render it as "wailing" or "lamentation," preserving its focus on the audible cry of distress rather than the ritual of burial.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The Hebrew word nehi captures the raw, audible cry of deep grief. It is not a silent internal sorrow but a loud, piercing wail that fills the streets and squares. When disaster strikes, this sound signals that loss is shared by the whole community, breaking through private pain into public reality.
In Micah 2:4, the prophet uses this term to describe the crushing despair of a people whose land has been seized. The cry 'We are utterly ruined!' shows how grief can feel total and overwhelming. Yet even in these texts, the act of wailing is an honest response to brokenness, not a failure of faith.
This word reminds us that God hears our loudest cries. You do not need to hide your pain or pretend to be strong when tragedy hits. Bringing your raw sorrow into the light, as the prophets did, is a way of trusting that God sees and cares about your suffering. May you find peace in knowing your grief is heard.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 3 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- a wailing1×
- a mourning song1×
- <of> lamentation1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- נֶֽהִי\׃1×
- נְהִי֙1×
- נְהִ֤י1×
Key Verses
-
Amos 5:16
Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
This verse uses nehi to predict that wailing will fill all wide ways, emphasizing the public and acoustic nature of collective national mourning.
-
Micah 2:4
In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”
Here the term describes a doleful lamentation over the loss of land, capturing the specific cry of utter ruin felt by the community.