To Be Sick
To Be Sick [1]
A. Verb.
Châlâh ( חָלָה, Strong'S #2470), “to be sick, weak.” This verb is common in all periods of the Hebrew language and occurs approximately 60 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is found in the text for the first time near the end of the Book of Genesis when Joseph is told: “Behold, thy father is sick …” (Gen. 48:1).
A survey of the uses of châlâh shows that there was a certain lack of precision in many of its uses, and that the context would be the deciding factor in its meaning. When Samson told Delilah that if he were tied up with bowstrings he would “be weak, and be as another man” (Judg. 16:7), the verb obviously did not mean “become sick,” unless being sick implied being less than normal for Samson. When Joram is described as being sick because of wounds suffered in battle (2 Kings 8:29, RSV), perhaps it would be better to say that he was weak. Sacrificial animals that are described as being lame or “sick” (Mal. 1:8) are actually imperfect or not acceptable for sacrifice.
This word is sometimes used in the figurative sense of overexerting oneself, thus becoming “weak.” This is seen in the various renderings of Jer. 12:13: “They have put themselves to pain …” (KJV); “they have tired themselves out …” (RSV); “they have worn themselves out” (JB); “they sift but get no grain” (NEB). The versions are divided in the translation of Song of Sol. 2:5, which the KJV, RSV, and JB translate “sick of/with love,” while the NEB and NAB make it “faint with love.” The NASB renders it “lovesick,” but the TEV is probably closest to the meaning when it says “weak with passion.”
B. Noun.
Chŏlı̂y ( חֳלִי, Strong'S #2483), “sickness.” This noun occurs about 23 times. The use of this word in the description of the Suffering Servant in Isa. 53:3-4 has resulted in various translations. The RSV, KJV, and NASB render it “grief.” It is “sufferings in the NEB, JB, TEV and “infirmity” in the NAB. The meaning of “sickness” occurs in Deut. 7:15: “And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness , and will put none of the evil diseases [ madweh ] of Egypt.…” Chŏlı̂y is used metaphorically as a distress of the land in Hos. 5:13.
