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# אֶפֶס

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H657

**ceasing** — used 43 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

ceasing [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/657/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

אֶ֫פֶס: n.m. ceasing end, extremity non-existence [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/657/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. proposes ceasing, hence end, extremity, only in the poet. phrase אַפְסֵי אֶרֶץ (ψ 59:14 א׳ הארץ) ends, extreme limits, of the earth, used especially hyperbolically: Dt 33:17 1 S 2:10 Mi 5:3 Je 16:19 ψ 2:8; 59:14; 72:8 (= Zc 9:10); + כָּל־ Is 45:22; 52:10b (= ψ 98:3b) ψ 22:28; 67:8 Pr 30:4. Expressing non-existence: as subst. (mostly a rare poet. syn. of אַיִן): Is 34:12 and all his princes יִהְיוּ אָ֑פֶס shall become nought, 41:29; 41:12 יִהְיוּ כְאַיִן וּכְאֶפֶס; 40:17 מֵאֶפֶס וָתֹהוּ (‖ כְּאַיִן) as made of nought and worthlessness are they accounted by him, 41:24 (read פָּעָלְכָם מֵאָ֑פֶס, ‖ מֵאַיִן, v. אֶפַע); 52:4 and Asshur oppressed him בְּאֶפֶס for nought. as part. of negation, proposes cessation of …! (cf. אֵין … nought of …), very rare in prose (2 S 9:3), chiefly a poet. syn. of אֵין: Is 5:8 עַד אֶפֶס מָקוֹם till there is an end of place = till there is no place (cf. עַד אֵין ψ 40:13), Am 6:10 (cf. אָֽיִן Ju 4:20), Dt 32:36 (hence, in prose, 2 K 14:26), Is 45:6 (cf. אין 43:11) v 14; 46:9; 54:15; אֲנִי וְאַפְסִי עוֹד Zp 2:15 Is 47:8, 10 is prob. to be rendered, ‘I am, and there is none besides’ (so Ges Ew Di etc.), the י being ‘paragogic’ as in זוּלָתִי etc. (Ges§ 90, 3a Ew§ 211b), cf. וְאֵין עוֹד Is 45:5, 6, 18, 21; but according to De the י is sf. of 1 s. ‘I am, and I am nought besides’ (i.e. and I am nought besides my all-sufficient self).—בְּאֶפֶס (like בְּאֵין, q.v.) without: Pr 14:28; 26:20 Jb 7:6 Dn 8:25. as adv. of limitation: (a) only: †Nu 22:35 (cf. אַךְ v 20) 23:13. (b) אֶפֶס כִּי save that, howbeit (qualifying a preceding statement): †Nu 13:28 Dt 15:4 Ju 4:9 Am 9:8 (+ 1 S 1:5 𝔊 We Sta Dr). So אֶפֶס alone †2 S 12:14 (the foll. כִּי signifying because).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 41 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (3 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (3 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: \[the\] ends (12); there not (6); nevertheless (5).

## In the verses

[Job 7:6](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.7.6/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.7.6/#tree)

יָמַ֣י קַ֭לּוּ מִנִּי־אָ֑רֶג וַ֝יִּכְל֗וּ בְּאֶ֣פֶס תִּקְוָֽה׃

*Word for word:* days my they.have.been.swift more.than a.weaver's.shuttle and they.have.come.to.an.end with not hope

*JPS 1917:* My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

[Psalms 67:8](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.67.8/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.67.8/#tree)

יְבָרְכֵ֥נוּ אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְיִֽירְא֥וּ אֹ֝ת֗וֹ כָּל־אַפְסֵי־אָֽרֶץ׃

*Word for word:* he will.bless.us God and they.will.fear him all \[the\].ends of.\[the\].earth

*JPS 1917:* May God bless us; and let all the ends of the earth fear Him.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/657.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/657/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).